Progenics receives $5M milestone from Wyeth

New York, USA-based drugmaker Progenics Pharmaceuticals says that it has received $5.0 million from fellow US firm Wyeth, following its initiation of a Phase III trial of the investigational agent methynaltrexone as a treatment for post-operative ileus. The payment, which arises from the companies' 2005 R&D agreement, is part of the potential $356.5 million in milestones that the Tarrytown-headquartered company could receive based on the achievement of certain pre-defined developmental goals.

Methynaltrexone is designed to address the often debilitating peripheral side effects of opioid-based analgesics, without interfering with pain relief. In the new study, the drug is administered intravenously post-surgery and every six hours until the patient recovers gastrointestinal function, for a period of up to 10 days.

Progenics added that it plans to initiate a second Phase III study in a similar surgical setting later in the year and, assuming successful completion of the trials, will submit a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration in late-2007, or early-2008.