Relmada Therapeutics Announces the Acquisition of Development and Commercial Rights to Novel Psilocybin and Derivates Program from Arbormentis LLC
Relmada Therapeutics, Inc. a late-stage biotechnology company addressing diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), announced the acquisition of development and commercial rights to a novel psilocybin and derivate program from Arbormentis LLC in all ex-Asia territories, including the U.S. and Europe. Relmada will collaborate with Arbormentis on the development of new therapies targeting neurological and psychiatric disorders, leveraging its understanding of neuroplasticity, and focusing on this emerging new class of drugs targeting the neuroplastogen mechanism of action. Importantly, neuroplasticity plays a key role in the activity of REL-1017, Relmada’ s lead program, which is currently in Phase III for the treatment of depression.
Under the terms of the agreement, Relmada will pay Arbormentis LLC an upfront fee of $15 million, consisting of a mix of cash and equity, in addition to potential milestone payments totaling in excess of $150 million, related to pre-specified development and commercialization milestones. Arbormentis LLC is also eligible to receive a low single digit royalty on any commercialized therapy resulting from this agreement.
The development of REL-1017 is progressing as planned, and we continue to expect top-line data from the human abuse potential study assessing REL-1017 as compared to oxycodone in July 2021.
Arbormentis LLC is a privately-held drug discovery company engaged in potentially transformative innovations for CNS diseases. The new licensed program stems from an international collaboration among distinguished U.S., European and Swiss scientists that has focused on the discovery and development of compounds that promote neural plasticity. Dr. Paolo Manfredi, Relmada’ s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer and co-inventor of REL-1017, and Dr. Marco Pappagallo, Relmada’ s Chief Medical Officer, are among the scientists of Arbormentis.
“Today’s agreement furthers our commitment to identifying and advancing groundbreaking treatments to address diseases of the CNS. This transaction expands Relmada’ s R&D pipeline and leverages our core expertise in neural plasticity. Additionally, this novel psylocibin program represents a strong strategic fit with REL-1017, our lead compound currently in Phase III for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD),” said Sergio Traversa, CEO of Relmada Therapeutics, Inc.
Dr Manfredi added, “My Arbormentis colleagues and I are excited and proud to bring this novel psilocybin platform into Relmada. We are thrilled to move forward with Relmada based on our confidence in the company’s demonstrated clinical progress with REL-1017 and significant expertise in neural plasticity. This pipeline addition positions Relmada at the forefront of development of new therapies with neuroplastogen potential.”