Novaremed Enters Into an Exclusive Option and License Agreement With NeuroFront for the Non-opioid Neuropathic Pain Treatment, NRD.E1, for Greater China and Singapore
Novaremed AG and NeuroFront Therapeutics (Hong Kong) Limited jointly announce the signing of an exclusive collaboration and commercialization agreement for Novaremed’s innovative non-opioid investigational drug, NRD.E1, being developed for the treatment of diabetes-related neuropathic pain and other neuropathic pain indications. Under the terms of the agreement, Novaremed is eligible to receive from NeuroFront over USD 130 million in option and exercise fees as well as development, regulatory and sales milestone payments plus royalties on net sales.
Under the terms of the agreement, Novaremed will grant NeuroFront an exclusive option to obtain exclusive development, commercialization and manufacturing rights to NRD.E1, Novaremed’s first-in-class, innovative non-opioid investigational drug candidate for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The agreement allows NeuroFront to develop and commercialize NRD.E1 as treatment of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN) and any other neuropathic pain indications in the Greater China territory (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) and Singapore.
NeuroFront has the right to exercise its license option at its discretion, but no later than upon completion of the Phase 2b trial of NRD.E1 in PDPN, which will start patient enrollment in coming weeks.
In case NeuroFront successfully develops and registers NRD.E1 in additional neuropathic pain indications in the licensed territory, Novaremed is also eligible to receive additional development and regulatory milestone payments for each additional indication.
“We are very delighted collaborating with NeuroFront to advance our non-opioid neuropathic pain treatment for patients suffering from PDPN and other neuropathic pain indications in China. Currently, approved medications for PDPN provide inadequate pain relief and are associated with many intolerable side effects. Based on both preclinical and clinical data, we believe NRD.E1 has the potential to offer unique benefits and revolutionize the way PDPN is treated,” said Isaac Kobrin, MD, Executive Chairman of Novaremed. “NeuroFront’s development and commercial expertise and its focus on innovative CNS drugs is complementary to our expertise and an ideal fit for Novaremed.”
“There are up to 19 million patients suffering from PDPN in China, but no new innovative drug has been introduced in the market for more than 15 years. There exists a significant unmet medical need and hence a great opportunity for NRD.E1, a first-in-class, novel treatment that has already demonstrated clinical effectiveness in a Phase 2a clinical trial and subsequently received US FDA Fast Track Designation and NIH sponsorship for its Phase 2b trial,” said June Yan, CEO of NeuroFront. “NeuroFront is very excited to partner with Novaremed to change the lives of many PDPN patients in Greater China and Singapore.”
This partnership and the transaction were facilitated with the assistance of Cukierman and Company Investment House.
About NRD.E1 and the treatment of chronic pain
NRD.E1 is an orally active small molecule with a novel mechanism of action by modulating Lyn kinase and has patent protection until 2040. NRD.E1 is Novaremed’s lead drug candidate currently being developed to treat painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN). Novaremed successfully completed three Phase 1 studies [1] and one double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2a dose-finding proof-of-concept study [2] in which NRD.E1 showed a clinically relevant reduction in patient-reported pain (measured as an improvement in mean neuropathic pain score) and was very well tolerated at all doses tested.
On the basis of these results, NRD.E1 has been granted Fast Track Designation by the US FDA and was selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US as the only oral agent to be included in the NIH-HEAL (Help End Long-term Addiction) program. The NIH will sponsor and execute a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b study in patients with moderate to severe PDPN in the US. Recruitment into this clinical trial will start in coming weeks.
About NeuroFront
NeuroFront is a China-based clinical stage neuroscience biotech company with a focus on developing and commercializing innovative neuroscience therapies to address unmet needs and improve patients' lives in China and Asia. NeuroFront was established by top-tier life sciences investors, including Nan Fung Life Sciences and Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, and is led by an elite team of neuroscience industry veterans with substantial and compelling expertise in China and globally in both R&D and the commercialization of CNS products. NeuroFront is building a portfolio of innovative, transformative CNS therapies that treat migraine, painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy, depression, ADHD, and other CNS diseases with high unmet medical needs. For more information: www.neurofrontrx.com.
About Novaremed
Novaremed AG, a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is developing a pipeline of innovative medications for chronic pain management to address the high unmet medical need for better pain relief and as an alternative to opioids. Its lead product is NRD.E1, an orally active non-opioid small molecule with a novel mechanism of action, has FDA Fast Track Designation and IND-approval to proceed with a Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN). The earlier stage pipeline addressing chronic neuropathic pain includes the development candidates MP-101 (Phase 2 stage), and MP-103 (preclinical stage), targeting the unmet medical need of prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Novaremed Ltd (Israel) and Metys Pharmaceuticals AG (Switzerland) are fully owned subsidiaries of Novaremed AG, domiciled in Basel (Switzerland). For more information: www.novaremed.com.
References
[1] Tiecke E., Rainisio M., Guentert T., Müller S., Hochman L., Kaplan E., Mangialaio S. (2022). First-in-human single-ascending-dose, multiple-dose and food interaction studies of NRD.E1, an innovative non-opioid therapy for painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development (CPDD). (https://accp1.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpdd.1103)
[2] Tiecke E., Rainisio M., Eisenberg E., Wainstein J., Kaplan E., Silverberg M., Hochman L., Mangialaio S. (2022). NRD.E1, an innovative non-opioid therapy for painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy – a randomized proof of concept study. European Journal of Pain. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejp.1989)
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220721005391/en/
Contact information
Contact for Novaremed
Mark Altmeyer, Executive Member of the Board
mark.altmeyer@novaremed.com
Contact for NeuroFront
Bin Yao, VP of Operations and Commercialization
bin.yao@neurofrontrx.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
EIG Acquires a 49.87% Stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú (TgP)19.12.2025 19:42:00 EET | Press release
EIG, through its managed investment vehicles, acquired a 49.87% equity stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú S.A. (“TgP”) from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board today. TgP operates Peru’s principal natural gas and natural gas liquids pipelines under a long-term concession, supplying approximately 40% of the country’s power generation. “We are delighted to complete this transaction and embark on the next chapter of our partnership with TgP,” said Matt Hartman, EIG’s Global Head of Infrastructure. “Our priority is to support TgP’s operational excellence and long-term stability, delivering value for customers and stakeholders throughout Peru.” About EIG EIG is a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors with $24.3 billion assets under management as of September 30, 2025. EIG specializes in private investments in energy and energy-related infrastructure on a global basis. During its 43-year history, EIG has committed over $51.7 billion to the energ
CyberArk Named a Leader in IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Solutions for Identity Security 202519.12.2025 18:00:00 EET | Press release
CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), the global leader in identity security, today announced that it has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Solutions for Identity Security 2025 Vendor Assessment. CyberArk extends dynamic privilege controls across all identity types with its unified platform, enabling organizations to improve efficiencies and streamline security operations. This IDC MarketScape report notes, “More change has occurred in the identity security marketplace in the past two years than in almost a decade. Vendors are entering a new phase defined by the emergence of intelligence technologies, none of which are specifically defined by any industry standards. Though different by design, the new adjacent IAM offerings are largely focused on improved vulnerability and threat management visibility and automated and predictive attack detection capabilities.” It also notes, “By addressing these evolving identity types within a unified framework, CyberArk enh
New York Liberty and Ant International’s Alipay+ Announce Multiyear Partnership Focused on Empowerment, Sustainability and Youth Development19.12.2025 15:30:00 EET | Press release
The New York Liberty and Ant International’s Alipay+, a leading cross-border fintech services platform based in Singapore, today announced a multiyear partnership, making Alipay+ an Official Sponsor and Innovation Partner for Sustainability of the New York Liberty. Through this partnership, Alipay+ and the Liberty will jointly support community programs designed to advance community empowerment, environmental sustainability and youth development across New York City. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251219678825/en/ Peng Yang, CEO, Ant International and Clara Wu Tsai, Vice Chair, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment; Governor, New York Liberty “Our partnership with Alipay+ goes beyond the game,” said Keia Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, New York Liberty. “Together, we are investing in the future of New York—its people, its environment, and its youth. Ant International’s commitment to community empowerment, sustai
Parse Biosciences and Codebreaker Labs Partner to Apply Whole Transcriptome Single Cell Profiling and Causal Genomics at Scale19.12.2025 15:00:00 EET | Press release
Parse Biosciences, the leading provider of scalable and accessible single cell sequencing solutions, today announced a collaboration with Codebreaker Labs to develop and validate a breakthrough platform capable of testing thousands of genetic variants in parallel and measuring their effects at single cell resolution. By combining Codebreaker’s synthetic biology platform and variant engineering capabilities with the scale and accessibility of Parse’s Evercode™ technology, the collaboration aims to generate the causal data increasingly sought by AI developers, drug discovery teams, and clinical researchers. Today’s genomic studies rely heavily on observational data, or variants that appear in large populations. But rare and private variants, often only seen in one individual or family, are nearly impossible to study this way because too few carriers of the variant exist to draw statistically meaningful conclusions. As a result, even the most advanced models trained on observational datas
Cyviz Awarded Two Classified NATO Defense Contracts19.12.2025 09:00:00 EET | Press release
Norwegian technology and platform company Cyviz AS has been awarded two classified defense contracts by major European NATO-partner nations to deliver a fully mobile, containerised Command & Control (C2) capability, strengthening Europe’s operational readiness in high-threat and expeditionary environments. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251218625485/en/ Image from a previous military exercise where Cyviz demonstrated a mobile command center solution. The contracts cover the design, integration, and delivery of secure, deployable operations centres engineered to NATO security standards, enabling military and security forces to establish full theatre-class command capability wherever operations require. Due to the sensitive nature of the missions, contract value and customer identities remain undisclosed. From Demonstrated Readiness to Operational Deployment The awards follow growing interest among European def
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom