Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from the line of Matt Kaplan – Ladenburg Thalmann.
Matt Kaplan – Ladenburg Thalmann
Starting off with the AstraZeneca agreement you mentioned that you amended and extended that agreement. What does that mean for Palatin going forward?
Stephen Wills
We amended the agreement and during the fiscal year we actually received $5 million of milestones related to the progress we made with the obesity program including the recent trial that we completed. The actual research collaboration part of the support whereby AstraZeneca reimburses us for an agreed upon FTE rate, full time equivalent rate, initially would have expired January 31 of 2009. That was extended for another year to January 31, 2010. The additional amendments to the agreement included a clinical trial for the obesity program that Trevor and Carl just discussed.
Matt Kaplan – Ladenburg Thalmann
The next steps for this program are to move the selected molecules into development in 2010?
Trevor Hallam, Ph.D.
Yes and the selection will be this year. Of course we aim to get into the clinical studies next year. As I mentioned, the proof of concept clinical study we did earlier this year on behalf of AstraZeneca has been tremendously useful and will really allow us to make the translation to the clinic with commercial candidates.
Matt Kaplan – Ladenburg Thalmann
In terms of bremalanotide can you give us a sense from your prior studies in the PD non-responders what you saw in those patients in terms of efficacy and then secondarily, what you saw in the subcutaneous trial, give us some more detail in terms of the side effect profile compared to the intranasal.
Trevor Hallam, Ph.D.
Previous and earlier clinical studies have included small populations of non-responders. That data together with some studies that an Iranian group in Tehran actually did with bremalanotide which wasn’t sponsored by Palatin look very consistent and very intriguing. In fact the Iranian studies show the monotherapy with bremalanotide were very good. Those PD5 non-responders were running properly along the lines that we would be recruiting selecting and then randomizing. In other words, you take all the subjects that are candidates for the study through a running period with the PD-5 inhibitor to really show they are not effective before you then randomize to bremalanotide as a monotherapy or as adjunct.
The second part of the question?
Matt Kaplan – Ladenburg Thalmann
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
