PARIS – French biotechnology firm Neurotech S.A., owner of Lincoln-based Neurotech USA, signed a license agreement with biotech giant Amgen Inc. to develop and market a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that currently is untreatable.
Amgen’s experimental treatment, a protein called ciliary neurotrophic factor, has been shown to have protective effects in animal models of the disease. But there is no practical way of delivering the protein into the eye, which has prevented clinical studies of the retinal disease, Neurotech said. Retinitis pigmentosa is the leading cause of blindness among young adults.
Neurotech, however, has shown recently that that its encapsulated cell technology (ECT) product delivered the protein in the eye over an extended period of time, protecting the retina from degeneration.
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Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said it would include payment of Neurotech stock to Amgen, an up-front payment, milestone payments and royalties on future product sales.
