A new year is off to a much better start for battered Tranzyme Pharma.
The RTP-based drug technology firm, its stock driven under $1 a share in value by recent drug setbacks, reported some good news early Friday – the transfer of several compounds to Bristol-Myers Squibb that could lead to big paydays.
If the compounds lead to new drugs, Tranzyme (Nasdaq: TZYM) could land as much as $80 million each in milestone payments and royalties.
How many compounds were involved was not disclosed by Tranzyme in the announcement issued early Friday.
The two firms established a drug development partnership in 2009, and it was extended in November 2011.
Tranzyme described the collaboration as having reached a “successful completion.”
“We have enjoyed an exceptionally close and productive relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb and are excited to be transitioning now the fruits of our discovery collaboration to our partner for further development,” said Helmut Thomas, Tranzyme’s senior vice president for research and preclinical development. “This milestone serves to further validate our technology’s broad application to a diverse range of difficult drug targets and its value in the discovery of drugs for the treatment of diseases far beyond our own internal focus on gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders.”
Tranzyme also has the option to “pursue select collaboration targets for internal development,” the company said. It is utilizing its proprietary drug discovery and medical chemistry technology to identify compounds of interest. It has won several patents for its technology.
Tranzyme shares fell sharply last month disclosed another drug test failure and closed at 55 cents on Thursday.
The firm said it was “discontinuing and immediately ending patient enrollment” in a Phase 2b clinical trial of a drug candidate designed to treat diabetes-related inability to digest food.
TZP-102 tests will stop “due to insufficient efficacy,” the company reported.
Just a month earlier, shares in Tranzyme plunged after the company announced failure of the same compound that it hoped would treat diabetics suffering from gastroparesis, or trouble digesting food.
That December failure was the third in 2012 for Tranzyme.
Tranzyme recently raised $10 million through a stock offering.
Tranzyme is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel, mechanism-based therapeutics for the treatment of upper gastrointestinal motility disorders.
