STALICLA signs Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to cover Phase 3 development of mavoglurant in cocaine use disorder

Agreement follows STALICLA’s recent in-licencing of mavoglurant from Novartis

Geneva, Switzerland – 8 March 2023, STALICLA SA, a clinical stage biotech advancing the first precision neurobiology platform (DEPI) for patients with neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, today announced that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The agreement covers the clinical development program of mavoglurant to treat patients diagnosed with cocaine use disorder (CUD), including a Phase 3 study.

NIDA is the lead federal agency supporting scientific research on drug use and addiction to improve individual and public health. Under the terms of the CRADA, NIDA will cover under its own account the Phase 3 trial for mavoglurant, which is slated to enrol up to 330 patients. The investigational product was in-licensed by STALICLA from Novartis in return for undisclosed late-stage milestone payments and royalties, in an agreement announced in January this year. Novartis has also taken an equity stake in STALICLA.

Lynn Durham, STALICLA’s Founder & CEO, commented: “Our CRADA with NIDA allows us to enter into late stage development and is a testament to STALICLA’s commitment to bring new treatments to patients suffering from neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. It is also a validation of mavoglurant’s potential in treating patients with substance-abuse disorders. We have onboarded an exceptional partner in NIDA and we are excited about working together to accelerate mavoglurant towards a new drug application.”

About mavoglurant

Mavoglurant is the most clinically advanced selective non allosteric metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) antagonist. mGluR5 has been tied to mood disorders, addiction as well as rare and common forms of Autism. In clinical Phase 2 studies, mavoglurant has been shown to induce abstinence in cocaine use disorder patients through inhibition of mGluR5, with no evidence of withdrawal liability.

About STALICLA

STALICLA is a precision molecular neuroscience clinical stage biotech company, advancing the first precision medicine platform (DEPI) for patients with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), and neuropsychiatric disorders.

STALICLA’s unique approach is addressing the poor construct validity of behaviourally defined disorders through its unique platform integrating molecular data with human genetic information to create testable clinical hypotheses in psychiatry and neuroscience.

With multiple clinical proof of concepts, DEPI has allowed for the identification of two distinct subgroups of patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their tailored treatments STP1 and STP2, both of which are planned to enter Phase 2 clinical trials in 2023. STP1 and STP2 hold a multi-billion market potential.

The DEPI platform has been validated in a clinical setting showing high specificity, sensitivity and positive predictive value in prospectively designed trials recalling ‘high’ responder patients to previously failed drug candidates.

STALICLA is currently preparing its next stage of growth to advance its pipelines and scale its platform.

For further information, please visit: https://stalicla.com/

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