Pharmacopeia gets $1M as S-P drug enters Ph I

Pharmacopeia has received a $1.0 million milestone payment, triggered by Schering-Plough's initiation of Phase I clinical trials of an inflammatory disease drug candidate identified as part of their R&D accord.

Princeton, New Jersey, USA-based Pharmacopeia is eligible to receive additional milestone payments if the program advances further in clinical trials, and will also receive royalties on sales of any resulting therapeutics using compounds derived from the program. S-P is solely responsible for further development and commercialization of this inflammatory disease candidate. The terms of the deal also oblige S-P to continue to pay Pharmacopeia research funding for 10 full-time chemistry employees until April.

"With four product candidates in clinical development, our collaboration with Schering-Plough is currently our most productive," said Pharmacopeia chief executive Les Browne. Last year, Pharmacopeia extended the 2003 collaboration with S-P until April 2007 (Marketletter October 9, 2006).