Allergan Pulls Out Of Peptech Collaboration

Allergan has decided not to exercise its option to collaborate withPeptech on the development of GMDP (glucosaminyl muramyl dipeptide), a candidate drug for psoriasis, ophthalmic herpes and cervical warts.

The decision comes after a three-month toxicology assessment in the psoriasis program, recently completed by Peptech, which has indicated that "further work will be necessary to assess the optimal treatment regimen, taking into account both dose and length of treatment."

Peptech's chief executive, Roger Aston, told the Marketletter that while 28-day toxicology was clear for the compound over its dose range, some joint pathology emerged in three-month toxicology studies at the high end of the dose range. This has meant that further studies will be needed to establish appropriate dose levels for longer-term treatment and repeat usage (GMDP is already marketed in Russia by Peptech's subsidiary ZAO Peptech for short-term treatment of psoriasis [10 to 20 days] and various forms of infection).