Arena Pharmaceuticals entered into a co-development and license agreement with Ildong Pharmaceutical for temanogrel, Arena’s inverse agonist of the serotonin 2A receptor. The agreement grants Ildong exclusive rights to commercialize temanogrel in South Korea for myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and other cardiovascular diseases, subject to further development and regulatory approval of temanogrel. Initially, Ildong will be responsible for funding and conducting the next two planned clinical trials in this program.

Ildong has agreed to pay Arena a $2 million development milestone if the planned additional Phase I and Phase IIa clinical trials support continued development and Arena or another Arena licensee initiates a Phase IIb clinical trial of temanogrel. Arena is also eligible to receive a royalty on net sales of temanogrel in South Korea, while Ildong is eligible to receive a share of future payments received by Arena related to licensing transactions and sales of temanogrel in other territories.

“The Phase I trials Arena previously conducted support temanogrel’s potential to treat a variety of conditions related to thrombosis through a novel mechanism that may provide advantages over currently available therapies,” said Jack Lief, Arena’s president and CEO.

Arena will maintain ownership of temanogrel outside of South Korea, and has the rights to use data generated by Ildong for the development and potential commercialization of temanogrel outside of South Korea by Arena or other Arena licensees.

Recently, Ildong also entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with TG Therapeutics for the development and commercialization of the company’s anti-CD20 antibody, Ublituximab (TGTX-1101) in South Korea and Southeast Asia.

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