REG - C4X Discovery - Divestment of Orexin-1 to Indivior for £15.95m

C4X Discovery HoldingsAnnouncement

01/08/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230801:nRSA8175Ha&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 8175H  C4X Discovery Holdings PLC  01 August 2023

This announcement contains inside information

 

C4X Discovery Holdings plc

("C4XD", "C4X Discovery" or the "Company")

 

 

Strategic Divestment of C4XD's Orexin-1 Receptor Antagonist Programme to
Indivior for £15.95 Million

 

Sale encompasses all rights and enables immediate revenue recognition

 

Non-dilutive proceeds to accelerate progress of immuno-inflammatory portfolio

 

1 August 2023 - C4X Discovery Holdings plc (AIM: C4XD), a pioneering Drug
Discovery company, today announces the execution of an asset purchase
agreement for Indivior PLC (LSE: INDV) ("Indivior") to acquire the proprietary
rights to C4XD's oral Orexin-1 receptor antagonist, C4X_3256 (INDV-2000) for
substance use disorder, for £15.95 million.

 

The completion of this non-dilutive strategic divestment forms part of C4XD's
evolution towards becoming an immuno-inflammatory therapeutics company. As
indicated in C4XD's April 2023 interim results, the Company's portfolio will
focus on treatments for immuno-inflammatory diseases, including its lead small
molecule α4β7 integrin inhibitor programme that aims to expand access to
disease modifying treatments for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The
Company believes it can deliver greater value for shareholders by progressing
these programmes further and intends to advance the α4β7 programme towards
the clinic and move two further immuno-inflammatory programmes into Lead
Optimisation.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, the previous license agreement announced on
29(th) March 2018 will be terminated and Indivior will assume all rights
related to the development and use of C4X_3256 (INDV-2000) and related
compounds(1). In 2019, Indivior received a $10.6 million grant for the
development of C4X_3256 (INDV-2000) from the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, which aims to
improve prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction.

 

Previously, C4X Discovery was eligible to receive potential milestone payments
from Indivior that in aggregate could have reached a maximum of $284 million
over time if all clinical development, regulatory and commercial goals were
achieved, as well as royalties on net sales of C4X_3256 (INDV-2000). The Phase
1 multiple ascending dose (MAD) study is currently ongoing.

 

Christian Heidbreder, Ph.D., CSO of Indivior PLC, said: "The acquisition of
full rights to INDV-2000 is aligned with our goal to build a strong and
balanced pipeline focused on addiction treatments. Importantly, we know the
asset well, having worked closely with C4X Discovery for more than five years.
We recognie its exciting potential and will continue to progress it as a novel
approach to the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder, as well as more broadly in
substance use disorders."

 

Bhavna Hunjan, CBO of C4X Discovery, added: "Indivior has made excellent
progress with our Orexin-1 candidate, and we are proud that they now wish to
take this programme fully in-house.  Their decision highlights the confidence
they have in the programme and further underlines the power of our drug
discovery expertise to produce valuable, commercially relevant, small-molecule
drug candidates. The agreement also provides an opportunity for us to
crystallise value for the programme early and underpins and accelerates our
new strategy. This non-dilutive funding, alongside potential preclinical
milestone payments from our licensing deals for C4XD immuno-inflammatory
assets with Sanofi and AstraZeneca, will allow us to further advance our newly
focused portfolio towards and into the clinic.  With our internal portfolio
progressing well and partnering on our MALT-1 programme initiated, we look to
a strong future as an immuno-inflammation therapeutics Company."

 

1.     C4XD will not receive any further milestone or royalty payments
from Indivior for the development or commercialisation of C4X_3256 (INDV-2000)

 

- Ends -

 

 

Contacts

 

 C4X Discovery Holdings
 Mo Noonan, Communications                                 +44 (0)787 6444977

 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (NOMAD and Broker)
 Freddy Crossley, Emma Earl (Corporate Finance)            +44 (0)20 7886 2500
 Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)

 C4X Discovery Media - Consilium Strategic Communications
 Mary-Jane Elliott, Chris Gardner, Matthew Neal            +44 (0)203 709 5700

 

Notes to Editors:

 

About C4X Discovery

 

C4X Discovery ("C4XD") is a pioneering Drug Discovery company, combining
scientific expertise with cutting-edge Drug Discovery technologies to
efficiently deliver world‑leading medicines.  We have a highly valuable and
differentiated approach to Drug Discovery through our enhanced candidate
molecule design and patient stratification capabilities, generating small
molecule drug candidates across multiple disease areas focused on
immuno-inflammation.  Our commercially attractive portfolio ranges from
early-stage target opportunities to late-stage Drug Discovery programmes and
we have three commercially partnered programmes with one candidate in clinical
development.

 

For more information visit us at www.c4xdiscovery.com
(http://www.c4xdiscovery.com) or follow us on twitter @C4XDiscovery.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCEAEXFDDEDEAA