Epilepsy Drug Agreement Sends SPARC Shares Flying

The pharma industry just got some big news this week. International pharmaceutical company Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, just announced a licensing arrangement for SPARC’s Elepsia XR.

Elepsia XR is a novel investigational product designed as an extended release formulation of levetiracetam 1000 mg and 1500 mg. Levetiracetam is a medication used to treat epilepsy and products currently approved by FDA and available on the US market are generally indicated for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial onset seizures in patients 12 years of age and older with epilepsy.

9 million prescriptions were dispensed for levetiracetam according to IMS MAT December 2015. It is one of the most widely prescribed treatments for epilepsy in the US. today.

In the agreement, SPARC will license Elepsia XR to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Pharma for the US market. In return, SPARC will receive an up-front payment of $10 million from Sun Pharma and is also eligible for certain additional milestone payments and defined royalties linked to any future sales of Elepsia XR.

CEO of SPARC Anil Raghavan, said, “The licensing of Elepsia XR is a step ahead in our desire to make it available for thousands of epilepsy patients taking multiple pills of levetiracetam every day. Elepsia XR is designed as a novel once-a-day formulation of levetiracetam using SPARC’s proprietary Wrap Matrix technology. It is designed to reduce pill burden and help improve convenience and compliance in these patients. If and when the US FDA reapproves the Elepsia XR application, Sun Pharma’s significant US presence will help SPARC in commercialising this important product for patients in the US market.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NSE: SUNPHARMA) and Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (NSE: SPARC) and have not been compensated for this article.