Ergomed and Ferrer to Develop Lorediplon for Insomnia

LONDON, February 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Ergomed Clinical Research Ltd, a leading clinical development company working with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, today announces that it has entered into an agreement with Ferrer, a privately-held Spanish pharmaceutical company, to support further clinical studies of Lorediplon in patients with insomnia. Ferrer also announced it is collaborating with Ildong Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd, Korea.

Ergomed is working with Ferrer as the clinical development organization to conduct the multicenter, multinational, randomized Phase IIa Lorediplon trial in insomnia. Under the terms of the agreement, Ergomed will assume a proportion of the clinical and regulatory costs of the Phase IIa trial in return for a share of future revenues received by Ferrer for Lorediplon in this indication.

"We are very pleased to co-invest with Ferrer in the development of Lorediplon, which has shown promising results in clinical trials to date," said Miroslav Reljanovic, M.D., CEO of Ergomed. "Our seventh co-development agreement establishes us as one of the leading worldwide companies completing deals under this innovative model."

"We look forward to working with our partners Ergomed and Ildong on the development of Lorediplon as a treatment for patients with underserved needs in insomnia and continue to seek additional partners to further the clinical development and commercialisation of Lorediplon in other territories," said Ferrer COO, Antoni Villaro Martin.

"Insomnia remains a common sleep disorder that has both a significant impact on an individual's quality of life and a broader impact on society, in terms of reduced productivity and associated healthcare costs" says Fernando Garcia Alonso, CSO at Ferrer. "Lorediplon is the first product to enter clinical trials from our CNS discovery program, the aim of which is to deliver differentiated products targeting underserved needs in insomnia and related sleep disorders."

Under the terms of the Ildong agreement, Ferrer will be eligible to receive payments from the Co-operation and License Agreement covering countries within East Asia, including South Korea, China and Japan. Ildong will be responsible for the costs and activities related to development and regulatory approvals in their territory.

"We are delighted to announce this collaboration with Ferrer," said Ildong chairman and CEO, Jung-chi Lee, Ph.D. "We are ready to fully cooperate in order to improve quality of life for patients."

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