Roche pays Memory $2.3M AD milestone

The USA's Memory Pharmaceuticals has achieved a set of defined preclinical milestones in its collaboration with Swiss drug major Roche for the discovery and development of nicotinic alpha-7 receptor agonists for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, triggering a commitment from the latter to provide approximately $2.3 million in research funding during 2007.

The milestone was related to progress in the preclinical development of MEM 63908, the second named development candidate in Memory's nicotinic alpha-7 agonist program. A number of lines of evidence suggest that partial agonists at the nicotinic alpha-7 receptor could have a variety of uses in addressing important diseases of the central nervous system, including Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, the firms noted.

Under the terms of their original 2006 accord, Memory granted Roche an exclusive worldwide license to its intellectual property on nicotinic alpha-7 receptor agonist. In addition to the $2.3 million injection, Memory will be eligible to receive milestones upon the achievement of development, regulatory and sales events for drug candidates; further financial details were not disclosed.