FAJARDO, Puerto Rico and BOSTON, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Warner Chilcott Company, Inc. and Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the two companies have entered into an exclusive license agreement for the development and commercialization of novel, narrow-spectrum tetracyclines for the treatment of acne and rosacea.
Tetracycline antibiotics are the leading approved systemic treatments of moderate to severe inflammatory acne. Discovered decades ago as broad-spectrum systemic antibiotics, tetracyclines have been shown to be potent anti-acne agents. Paratek has utilized its expertise in chemistry to develop novel narrow-spectrum antibacterial tetracyclines with improved anti-inflammatory activity, tolerability and other properties for the next generation treatment of acne and rosacea. These compounds represent the first tetracycline-derived new molecular entities ever to be synthesized specifically as improved therapeutics for dermatologic diseases.
“We look forward to a productive collaboration with Paratek as we work together to progress Paratek’s novel tetracycline products through the development process and into commercialization,” said Roger Boissonneault, Chief Executive Officer and President of Warner Chilcott.
“We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Warner Chilcott, a proven leader in the development and commercialization of dermatology products,” said Stuart B. Levy, M.D., Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Paratek Pharmaceuticals. “For years, dermatologists have sought therapies with a more targeted spectrum of activity. While effective, currently marketed tetracyclines possess antibacterial activity against a broad number of organisms not associated with acne or rosacea, which can lead to adverse consequences such as resistance development among life-threatening bacteria and persistent side effects. Paratek’s proprietary compounds have been designed to circumvent these issues by better targeting the causative bacteria and retaining potent anti-inflammatory properties.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Chilcott will assume responsibility for clinical development of the tetracycline derivative products and will have exclusive rights to market the products in the United States. Paratek received an up-front payment and will be eligible to receive additional payments upon achievement of certain development and regulatory approval milestones. Warner Chilcott will pay a royalty to Paratek on sales of any product under the agreement.
The leading candidate under the agreement is in preclinical development and expected to enter clinical development in 2008.
Warner Chilcott Company Inc. is a subsidiary of Warner Chilcott Limited .
About Warner Chilcott
Warner Chilcott is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling branded prescription pharmaceutical products in women’s healthcare and dermatology in the United States. (WCRX-G)
Read more on www.warnerchilcott.com.
About Paratek Pharmaceuticals
Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is engaged in the discovery and commercialization of new therapeutics that treat serious and life-threatening diseases, with a particular focus on the growing worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance. Paratek is advancing novel compounds that can circumvent or block bacterial resistance involving technology initially developed by Paratek co-founder Dr. Stuart Levy’s laboratory at Tufts University School of Medicine, and licensed by Paratek. In addition to its tetracycline-derived antibacterials, Paratek is developing small molecule drugs that can prevent infection by interfering with Multiple Adaptational Response (MAR) mechanisms in bacteria.
Outside the antibacterial therapeutic area, Paratek has also established an effort to exploit its novel tetracycline derivatives and their unique mechanism of action in selected anti-inflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions. Paratek has an active chemical synthesis effort to produce novel and diverse small molecules, with the goal of developing non-antibacterial compounds with improved activity in serious inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases based upon a growing body of clinical and basic research supporting this approach.
Paratek is privately held and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For more information, visit Paratek’s website at http://www.paratekpharm.com/.
Warner Chilcott’s Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements concerning our product development efforts. These statements constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The words “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “estimate,” “project,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “outlook,” “believe” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by our management that, although we believe to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.
The following represent some, but not necessarily all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from historical results or those anticipated or predicted by our forward-looking statements: our substantial, indebtedness; competitive factors in the industry in which we operate; our ability to protect our intellectual property; a delay in qualifying our manufacturing facility to produce our products or production or regulatory problems with either third party manufacturers upon whom we rely for some of our products or our own manufacturing facility; pricing pressures from reimbursement policies of private managed care organizations and other third party payors, government sponsored health systems, the continued consolidation of the distribution network through which we sell our products, including wholesale drug distributors and the growth of large retail drug store chains; the loss of key senior management or scientific staff; an increase in litigation, including product liability claims and patent litigation; government regulation affecting the development, manufacture, marketing and sale of pharmaceutical products, including our ability and the ability of companies with whom we do business to obtain necessary regulatory approvals; our ability to successfully complete the implementation of a company-wide enterprise resource planning system without disrupting our business; our ability to manage the growth of our business by successfully identifying, developing, acquiring or licensing and marketing new products, obtain regulatory approval and customer acceptance of those products, and continued customer acceptance of our existing products; and other risks detailed in our annual report for 2006 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 10-K and from time-to-time in our financial statements and other investor communications.
We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in our forward-looking statements may not occur. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
Warner Chilcott Company, Inc.
CONTACT: Rochelle Fuhrmann, Director, Investor Relations of WarnerChilcott Limited, +1-973-442-3200, rfuhrmann@wcrx.com; Kate Boxmeyer,Director of Finance, Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-617-275-0040, ext.238, kboxmeyer@paratekpharm.com
