Nicox and pSivida announced their entry into a collaboration agreement to explore the potential of combining Nicox's nitric oxide (NO)-donating compounds with pSivida's bioerodible sustained release drug delivery system, to develop a sustained release drug to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Nicox and pSivida will collaborate on the selection of NO-donating product candidates from Nicox's research portfolio to combine with pSivida's sustained release drug technology. pSivida will be responsible for initial development activities of ocular insert formulations, for which it will receive undisclosed sums by Nicox. The companies may then elect to proceed with further development, including more detailed non-clinical studies to generate pre-clinical data, and the evaluation of further compounds under the collaboration. Nicox would make additional payments for any incremental development activities for each implant formulation product candidate selected by Nicox to progress in development. New intellectual property from the collaboration relating to the drug-device combination will be jointly owned. Nicox and pSivida will negotiate a separate license agreement for any product candidate that the two companies wish to further develop and potentially commercialize as a result of this collaboration. Expected payments from Nicox associated with this agreement are not considered material to Nicox's financial statements at this time.