Astra Zeneca will co market Movantik (naloxegol) in the US with Daiichi Sankyo.

AstraZeneca announced a co-commercialisation agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. for Movantik (naloxegol) in the USA. Under the terms of the agreement, Daiichi Sankyo Inc. will pay a $200 million up-front fee and subsequent sales-related payments of up to $625 million. AstraZeneca will be responsible for manufacturing, will book all sales and will make sales-related commission payments to Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Both companies will be jointly responsible for commercial activities. The launch of Movantik in the US is planned for early April 2015.

Comment: Movantik was approved by the FDA in September 2014 as the first once-daily oral peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist medication for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in adult patients with chronic, non-cancer pain. Salix Pharmaceuticals ( now owned by Valeant Pharma) has now FDA approval for Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide) to treat all patients with constipation caused by opioid pain relievers. Formerly Relistor was approved to treat opioid-induced constipation in cancer patients, a population of about 1 million The new group of potential patients is 11 million. The new approval has put Relistor in direct competition with Movantik from AstraZeneca, which has its FDA approval for general opioid-induced constipation. Movantik is a pill, whereas Relistor is taken by the subcutaneous injection route.