Benzinga | Oct 12, 2021 08:25AM EDT

Titan Pharmaceuticals And MUSC FRD Enter Into Research And Option License Agreement; Financial Details Not Disclosed

Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTNP) ("Titan" or the "Company") today announced that it has entered into a research and option license agreement (the "Agreement") with the MUSC Foundation for Research Development ("MUSC FRD").

Under the terms of the Agreement, Titan will conduct certain research, evaluation, proof of concept development and testing of at least three tetrapeptide kappa-opioid receptor agonist compounds related to the provisional U.S. patent application previously assigned to FRD by the Medical University of South Carolina ("MUSC") and entitled "Opioid Agonists and Methods of Use Thereof." In exchange, FRD has granted Titan the option to acquire an exclusive worldwide, commercial license to the inventions related to MUSC's compounds.

"We are excited to begin research on MUSC FRD's tetrapeptide kappa-opioid receptor agonist compounds, particularly following encouraging early results from the first studies of Titan's kappa-opioid receptor agonist peptide, TP-2021, in a murine model of chronic pruritis," said Kate Beebe DeVarney, Ph.D., President and Chief Operating Officer of Titan. "Having recently demonstrated that ProNeura-based implants provided sustained, therapeutic levels of TP-2021 in this animal model, we believe that our platform can be applied to MUSC FRD's compounds as well, potentially strengthening and broadening Titan's patent portfolio in this field."

Scott Davis, Ph.D., MUSC FRD's Senior Director of Innovation Support and Commercialization, commented, "We are pleased to enter into this Agreement with Titan to develop, and potentially commercialize these promising therapeutic compounds and look forward to the results of Titan's research initiatives."