The Life Sciences team advised DeuteRx on its agreement to sell DRX-065, a novel clinical stage drug candidate, to Poxel SA for $8 million (€6.8 million). In addition, Poxel has also acquired a portfolio of additional deuterated drug candidates from DeuteRx for metabolic, specialty and rare diseases. In return, DeuteRx will also receive 1.29 million in new ordinary shares of Poxel common stock, representing 4.99 percent of Poxel’s issued capital, and will be eligible to receive development, regulatory and sales-based milestone payments, and royalties on net sales.
DRX-065 (deuterium-stabilized R-pioglitazone), developed by DeuteRx, is a mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitor that is currently in Phase 1 development. DRX-065 is the R-stereoisomer (single isomer) of pioglitazone. Pioglitazone, a drug approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has demonstrated efficacy in Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and is currently the only drug recommended in practice guidelines for biopsy-proven NASH patients.
DeuteRx is a privately-held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving racemic drug intended for patients across multiple therapeutic indications.
The Goodwin team was led by partners Chris Denn and included partners Daniel Karelitz and Catherine McCarty.
For additional details on the agreement, please read the press release.