Pfizer extends research phase of NicOx eye accord

French drug developer NicOx SA has signed an extension to its March 2006 collaboration agreement with Pfizer, granting the world drug giant the exclusive right to apply its proprietary nitric oxide-donating technology to drug discovery in the field of ophthalmology. This one-year extension of the research phase of the accord means NicOx will get 3.0 million euros ($4.4 million) in funding in March this year and prolongs Pfizer's option to license resulting compounds until May 2009.

The joint NicOx-Pfizer research team has been focusing its work on several separate projects, which have involved identifying and testing different classes of NO-donating compounds that could become treatments for major ocular diseases. In the most advanced project, encouraging results have been observed for various compounds in in vitro and in vivo preclinical models of a prevalent eye disease, the firms noted.

Ennio Ongini, vice president of research at NicOx, said: "considerable progress has been made in the research programs and we are expecting that the collaboration will generate a future candidate for development in a major ocular condition."