Medunik Canada and Lucane Pharma conclude an exclusive licence and collaboration agreement to help Canadian patients suffering from Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD), a group of rare inherited diseases

News provided by

Dec 04, 2013, 09:40 ET

BLAINVILLE, QC, Dec. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Medunik Canada, a pharmaceutical company specialized in orphan drugs and Lucane Pharma, a French niche pharmaceutical company, announced the conclusion of an exclusive collaboration agreement. Through this agreement, Medunik Canada receives the exclusive Canadian rights to market and distribute a new therapeutic option for patients suffering from Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD), a group of rare diseases involving deficiencies of carbamylphosphate synthetase, ornithine transcarbamylase or argininosuccinate sythetase. This therapeutic option is taste-free, which facilitates medication and favours compliance to treatment.

"We are very happy about this alliance with Lucane Pharma," stated Éric Gervais, Executive Vice-President of Medunik Canada. "This new collaboration complements our existing alliances, making Medunik Canada the largest orphan drug company in Canada. It also reinforces our position as a strategic partner committed to help Canadian rare disease patients benefit from the best available treatments."

"We are confident in Medunik Canada's ability and enthusiasm to make this new treatment option available to Canadian patients with DCU ", said Pierre Mambrini, CEO of Lucane Pharma. "Our common goal? To make a significant difference in the management of rare disease patients. "

About Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD)

UCDs are caused by a deficiency of one of the enzymes in the urea cycle which is responsible for the removal of ammonia, a potent neurotoxin, from the body. The urea cycle involves a series of biochemical steps in which nitrogen, a waste product of protein metabolism, is removed from the blood and converted to urea which is excreted in the urine. In UCDs, the nitrogen removal is blocked and it accumulates in the form of ammonia. Left untreated, UCDs can cause dangerously increased levels of ammonia in the bloodstream (hyperammonemia) resulting in brain damage, coma and, if untreated, death.

About Lucane Pharma:

Founded in Paris in late 2009 with private financing, Lucane Pharma develops, registers and sells drugs solely dedicated to the management of rare diseases. Over the last 4 years, Lucane Pharma has been successful in developing and registering with the European Union its first product in the area of metabolic diseases and has just received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the registration of a drug for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Several drugs are at the development stage, mostly in the area of metabolic diseases.

About Medunik Canada

Medunik Canada was created in December 2009 with the mission to make orphan drugs available to Canadians living with rare diseases through turn-key partnerships with international companies interested in making their products available to Canadian patients in need of otherwise unavailable treatments. Medunik Canada is a natural complement to its sister company Duchesnay Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company providing safe and effective treatment options to pregnant women, who represent a small-size population with special pharmacological needs. Both Medunik Canada and Duchesnay Inc. are part of Le Groupe Pharmaceutique Boivin, a Canadian family-owned organization based in the greater Montreal area of Quebec since 1955. For more information, visit www.medunikcanada.com.

SOURCE Médunik Canada

Image with caption: "Médunik Canada. (CNW Group/Médunik Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20131204_C7252_PHOTO_EN_34280.jpg