Synergy Pharmaceuticals has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire FV-100 shingles drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
FV-100 is an orally available nucleoside analogue, at present being developed for the treatment of shingles, a painful skin rash caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus, which is the causative agent of chickenpox.
Synergy Pharmaceuticals CEO Gary Jacob said FV-100 is a drug candidate has great potential to treat patients suffering from shingles.
"We believe that with our expanding clinical experience in utilizing patient-reported outcome tools from our GI program, a feature that will be necessary for supporting pain-related indications for FV-100, we are in a unique position to further develop FV-100 for patients not adequately treated with present-day therapy," Jacob added.
In a Phase 2a trial of FV-100 conducted in 230 patients comprised of two cohorts of 115 patients dosed at 200mg and 400mg, respectively, the drug was found to be well tolerated at both doses.
Clinically meaningful reductions in time to resolution of clinically significant pain and in incidence of post-herpetic neuralgia were noted, according to the study data.
