Shire and Amicus Terminate CollaborationShire and Amicus Terminate Collaboration
October 29, 2009
Shire is no more a partner of Amicus Therapeutics for the development of pharmacological chaperones, including AT2220 (1-deoxynojirimycin HCl). "Shire has been an excellent partner to work with during the past two years. However, reacquiring the ex-U.S. commercial rights to Amigal furthers our desire to enhance the value of that program for our shareholders." (John F. Crowley, President and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics). But the setbacks in the past months result in a workforce reduction of approximately 20 percent, as Amicus announced.
The development of pharmacological chaperones remains a key activity in Amicus' business. As announced before, a Phase 1 study of AT2220 was initiated in October to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of AT2220 in muscle tissue in healthy adult subjects. Results are expected in the first half of 2010, and Amicus is planning to evaluate the use of AT2220 in combination with enzyme replacement therapy after a positive outcome of preclinical studies which will be reported at scientific conferences in 2010.