DOR gets $1.5M from Sigma under orBec deal

USA-based DOR BioPharma has received $1.5 million from Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals as part of an agreement allowing the latter to negotiate terms and conditions for a possible business transaction or strategic alliance for orBec (oral beclomethasone dipropionate) and potentially other DOR pipeline compounds until March 2009.

Under the terms of the letter of intent, Italy-based Sigma-Tau has purchased $1.5 million of DOR's common stock at the market price of $0.09 per share, which will be considered an advance payment to be deducted from upfront monies due from Sigma-Tau in the event of any future orBec arrangement reached between the two parties.

The drug represents a first-of-its-kind oral, locally-acting therapy tailored to treat the gastrointestinal manifestation of graft-versus-host disease, the organ system where GVHD is most frequently encountered and highly problematic. orBec is intended to reduce the need for systemic immunosuppressants for gastrointestinal GVHD. Its active ingredient is a highly-potent, topically-active corticosteroid that has a local effect on inflamed tissue and has been marketed since the early 1970s as a nasal spray and inhaler.