BioWorld International Correspondent

A collaboration between Danish firms NeuroSearch A/S and HeadExplorer ApS, along with Dansk Hovedpinecenter - the Danish Headache Center - at Copenhagen University Hospital, has led to the formation of a new firm, HeadExplorer A/S, which will develop compounds for treatment of tension-type headache.

Ballerup-based NeuroSearch holds 50 percent of its equity, while the remainder is held by private investors.

HeadExplorer A/S, which initially will be located at NeuroSearch's headquarters, has been assigned a portfolio of patents and patent applications generated through the research collaboration plus those held by HeadExplorer ApS, a company owned by a group of participating scientists.

"We have a very broad [portfolio of] patent and patent applications to cover the use of various compounds and mechanisms to treat tension-type headache," NeuroSearch's director of licensing and business development, Finn Sorensen, told BioWorld International. Sorensen is chairman of HeadExplorer A/S, while attorney Soren Skjaerbaek, a member of the NeuroSearch legal department, has been appointed full-time CEO.

As well as developing molecules itself, HeadExplorer also will look to in-license promising compounds that have failed in Phase II trials in other indications and products that already are on the market for treatment of different conditions. The company already has identified potential licensing candidates, Sorensen said, but it does not intend to enter any discussions for another six months. In the meantime, it plans to shore up its intellectual property position.

The in-house expertise at HeadExplorer stems from the work of board member Jes Olesen, head of the Danish Headache Center and an authority on headache research. Tension-type headache, according to NeuroSearch, affects 10 percent of the population in the Western world, and in approximately 3 percent of those affected it develops as a chronic condition. Available prescription drugs and over-the-counter painkillers are not effective, Sorensen said. Some patients receive anti-depressants, but they are effective in less than one-third of cases, he said.

"There is huge commercial potential to be first on the market with a drug for tension-type headache," Sorensen said.

NeuroSearch will fund the initial work of HeadExplorer and will perform scientific and administrative tasks on its behalf. The new company will seek more substantial funding in the next 12 to 18 months, Sorensen said.

In addition to its core CNS drug development business, NeuroSearch now has five spin-off or subsidiary companies: NsGene A/S, Sophion Bioscience A/S, Poseidon Pharmaceuticals A/S, Azign Bioscience A/S and HeadExplorer A/S. Most are spin-offs from projects that originated within the parent company, but that are outside its CNS focus. Sorensen characterized the formation of the latest venture differently. "This company is more or less an acquisition," he said.

The move, which was disclosed Monday, failed to impress NeuroSearch shareholders this week. The company's stock closed Tuesday at DKK75 on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, close to its all-time low of DKK72, which it touched three times during the past week.