Israeli biotech SciSparc has sold the license for its cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2R) agonist to its partner Polyrizon to further develop as a pain therapy.
The agreement will see Polyrizon secure the exclusive, royalty-bearing global license to SCI-160, a synthetic combination of cannabinoids and N-acylethanolamines that is in preclinical development. In return, SciSparc would be entitled to $3 million in Polyrizon shares, as well as potentially another $3 million in cash milestone payments on top of royalties.
SciSparc said several combinations of cannabinoids and N-acylethanolamines that it had tested in preclinical studies had demonstrated “mediating analgesic effects in the peripheral nervous system without causing significant side effects in both acute and chronic pain.”
Specifically, SCI-160 had been shown in some of these studies to offer “comparable analgesic effect to high-dose morphine and, in some instances, exerted even greater potency” without causing any significant adverse effects, SciSparc said in a post-market release Aug. 16.
“We are pleased to finalize the license agreement for the out-licensing of the SCI-160 program for treating pain,” said SciSparc’s CEO and Chief Financial Officer Oz Adler in the release.
“The license agreement may allow us to enjoy royalties and milestones payments from the SCI-160 program, without investing additional funds in the development,” added Adler, who is also a member of Polyrizon’s board of directors.
Polyrizon is focused on the development of innovative medical device hydrogels delivered in the form of nasal sprays. The companies joined forces in May 2022 to explore how to combine the SCI-160 platform and Polyrizon’s Trap and Target intranasal drug delivery technology to target the central nervous system.
In 2021, SciSparc presented top-line preclinical data on SCI-160 that linked the candidate to the alleviation of pain up to six hours after injection in animals. SciSparc reported positive results on daily doses after surgery, leading it to pitch SCI-160 as a treatment for acute and chronic pain and begin a push toward a first-in-human clinical trial.