Cheshire’s Alexion Pharmaceuticals has signed a partnership agreement with the University of Nevada and Massachusetts-based Prothelia Inc. that could ultimately lead to the acquisition of the latter, Prothelia announced.
The agreement targets the development of Laminin-111, an experimental protein replacement therapy for a certain type of muscular dystrophy.
The University of Nevada owns the patent on the therapy, which it licensed to Prothelia in 2008. Laminin-111 is designed to treat merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy, an ultra-rare disease caused by a lack of Laminin-211 protein in the body.
Under the agreement, Alexion has an exclusive option to acquire Prothelia and license the therapy, if it achieves certain development milestones with Prothelia.
