28 January 2019 - - US-based drug developers Purdue Pharma L.P.  and Alivio Therapeutics  have entered into a partnership to advance one of Alivio's product candidates through clinical development with an option exercisable by Purdue to collaborate on a limited number of additional compounds utilizing Alivio's inflammation-targeting technology, the companies said.

ALV-107 is a non-opioid treatment being developed for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS).

Alivio will receive up to USD 14.75m in upfront and near-term license exercise payments and is eligible to receive royalties on product sales and over USD 260m in research and development milestones.

Purdue also has an option to invest in Alivio's next equity financing.

Alivio's inflammation-targeting technology is designed to enable therapeutics such as small molecules, biologics and nucleic acids to act exclusively at sites of inflammation based on the degree of inflammation in the tissue, while sparing healthy tissue.

This approach is being evaluated by Alivio internally across a variety of inflammatory diseases, including IC/BPS, pouchitis, and inflammatory bowel disease.

The ALV-107 programme recently received a USD 3.3m US Department of Defense Technology/Therapeutic Development Award.

The funds are directed to support Alivio's preclinical research and development activities, including GMP manufacturing, to enable the filing of an investigational new drug application.

Alivio's platform technology has demonstrated proof-of-concept in ten different preclinical models of inflammation including a validated preclinical model for the treatment of IC/BPS.

ALV-107relieved pain at all study time points post therapy (vs. vehicle-only control: at 2 hr, p=0.002; 4 hr, p=0.002; 24 hr, p=0.0003). In contrast, the conventional lidocaine-treated group showed statistically significant pain relief only two hours post-treatment (p=0.030). Safety and efficacy of ALV-107 will be evaluated during a clinical development program.

There is no guarantee that this investigational agent will successfully complete clinical development or gain health authority approval.

Interstitial Cystitis or Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS) is a chronic bladder condition that consists of discomfort or pain in the bladder or surrounding pelvic region and is often associated with frequent urination.

It is estimated to affect up to 12 m people in the US and is more common in women than men. Current treatments fail to control pain in many patients.

Purdue Pharma develops and provides prescription medicines that meet the evolving needs of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

Privately held, Purdue is pursuing a pipeline of new medications and technologies through internal research and development and strategic industry partnerships.

Alivio Therapeutics, an affiliate of PureTech Health (PRTC.L), is in targeted disease immunomodulation to treat a range of chronic and acute inflammatory disorders.

Targeted disease immunomodulation involves acting exclusively at the site of inflammation rather than systemically, to minimize impacts on the wider immune system and healthy tissue.

To achieve this, Alivio technology is engineered to bind selectively to inflamed tissue and dynamically release incorporated therapeutics based on the degree of inflammation.

The therapeutics could potentially include a range of drug classes including small molecules, biologics, and nucleic acids. Alivio's pipeline includes candidates for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS), pouchitis, and inflammatory bowel disease, and the platform technology has been validated in multiple pre-clinical models, including models of osteoarthritis.

The technology platform has been validated in ten different preclinical models of inflammation at multiple labs and published in peer-reviewed journals, including in Science Translational Medicine and Nature Communications.

The technology is the first of its kind to demonstrate reproducible targeting of immunomodulatory compounds to inflamed tissue.

Alivio was cofounded by PureTech Health, Jeffrey Karp, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Robert Langer, Sc.D., Non-Executive director at PureTech Health and David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT.