C4X Discovery sells Orexin-1 drug candidate to Indivior for £15.95 million

LONDON, UK: C4X Discovery Holdings plc (AIM: C4XD), a pioneering Drug Discovery company, today announced the execution of an asset purchase agreement for Indivior PLC (LSE: INDV) to acquire the proprietary rights to C4XD’s oral Orexin-1 receptor antagonist, C4X_3256 (INDV-2000) for substance use disorder, for £15.95 million.

The deal, which terminates the previous license agreement announced in March 2018, will give Indivior full control over the development and use of C4X_3256 (INDV-2000) and related compounds for the treatment of opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders.

Indivior received a $10.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) HEAL Initiative in 2019 for the development of C4X_3256 (INDV-2000), which is currently undergoing a Phase 1 multiple ascending dose study.

The completion of this non-dilutive strategic divestment forms part of C4XD’s evolution towards becoming an immuno-inflammatory therapeutics company.

The Company’s portfolio will focus on treatments for immuno-inflammatory diseases, including its lead small molecule α4β7 integrin inhibitor programme that aims to expand access to disease modifying treatments for patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

The Company intends to advance the α4β7 programme towards the clinic and move two further immuno-inflammatory programmes into Lead Optimisation.

Christian Heidbreder, CSO of Indivior PLC, said: “The acquisition of full rights to INDV-2000 is aligned with our goal to build a strong and balanced pipeline focused on addiction treatments. Importantly, we know the asset well, having worked closely with C4X Discovery for more than five years. We recognise its exciting potential and will continue to progress it as a novel approach to the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder, as well as more broadly in substance use disorders.”

Bhavna Hunjan, CBO of C4X Discovery, added: “Indivior has made excellent progress with our Orexin-1 candidate, and we are proud that they now wish to take this programme fully in-house. Their decision highlights the confidence they have in the programme and further underlines the power of our drug discovery expertise to produce valuable, commercially relevant, small-molecule drug candidates. The agreement also provides an opportunity for us to crystallise value for the programme early and underpins and accelerates our new strategy. This non-dilutive funding, alongside potential preclinical milestone payments from our licensing deals for C4XD immuno-inflammatory assets with Sanofi and AstraZeneca, will allow us to further advance our newly focused portfolio towards and into the clinic. With our internal portfolio progressing well and partnering on our MALT-1 programme initiated, we look to a strong future as an immuno-inflammation therapeutics Company.”

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