AtheroNova, Inc. announced Thursday the signing of a binding term sheet with Maxwell Biotech Group for Maxwell to license marketing rights for AtheroNova’s AHRO-001 flagship atherosclerotic plaque regression compound. Maxwell, with offices in Boston, San Diego, and Moscow, will have an exclusive development and commercialization license for the drug in the Russian Federation, Belorussia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
As part of the deal, Maxwell, a Russian biotech venture capital company, has agreed to fund Phase I and Phase II human clinical trials in Russia, and will receive as much as $4.1 million in AtheroNova common stock.
AtheroNova CEO Thomas W. Gardner said of the deal, “This agreement with Maxwell represents a strong vote of confidence in our technology and also assures the resources to move AHRO-001 into the clinic, not only for Phase I, but also for Phase II human studies. Maxwell has committed to fund these clinical studies following extensive due diligence during which they vetted not only our science, intellectual property, projected market size and development pathway, but also the potential of our plaque regression technology to transform the treatment of atherosclerosis. Maxwell’s enthusiastic participation in our upcoming clinical studies reflects their positive evaluation of prospects for the success of AHRO-001 in the prevention and regression of atherosclerotic plaque and reduction of cholesterol.”
AtheroNova will be one of more than 200 biotechs presenting at the Rodman & Renshaw 13th Annual Healthcare and Global Investment Conference in New York September 11-13. CEO Gardner will make the AHRO-001 case to prospective investors at the event.
“We are very excited to enter the agreement with AtheroNova,” commented Alexey Eliseev, Maxwell‘s managing director. “Russia has one of the highest mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases in the world and atherosclerosis is a huge and growing problem in the country. The potential of AHRO-001 to reverse the progression of atherosclerotic plaques offers enormous benefits to a large number of patients in the region and in the world. The availability of a world-class network of clinical trial sites in Russia gives us the opportunity to rapidly and cost-effectively generate clinical proof of concept for the drug and contribute to its development for the global market.”
According to the AtheroNova press release, the Maxwell deal is the company’s first licensing partnership involving AHRO-001 and “reflects Maxwell’s forecast of strong demand for our atherosclerotic plaque regression compound in the license region,” as AtheroNova completes its pre-clinical stage in preparation for a pre-IND meeting with the FDA.
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