Pfenex Inc. (NYSX: PFNX) shares gained more than 20 percent after the company disclosed its macular degeneration drug candidate will get collaborative support from Hospira, Inc. HSP 0.01%.

The drug under development is aimed at competing as a so-called biosimilar with Roche Holding Ltd. (ADR)'s RHHBY 0.23% ranibizumab injection, called Lucentis, which had estimated sales last year of $4 billion.

Pfenex and Hospira will share the Phase 3 trial costs and Pfenex will receive "double digit" royalty payment on net sales that may follow.  Hospira will be responsible for manufacturing and commercializing the product worldwide.

Under terms of the agreement, Pfenex will receive an upfront payment of $51 million from Chicago-based Hospira, and will be eligible for an additional $291 million over the next five years in a combination of development and sales-based milestone payments.

The collaboration is subject to antitrust approval.  Pfenex is currently conducting a safety trial where 24 patients have been randomized to receive monthly intraocular injections of the treatment for three doses and ongoing patient follow-up for 12 months.

San Diego-based Pfenex changed hands recently at $8.25, up $1.35.

 KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:KYTH) today announced that it has entered into separate license agreements with Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and the University of Pennsylvania for a novel approach for the treatment of hair loss, which together could enable KYTHERA to bring a new treatment to the very large and still highly unsatisfied hair loss market.

"These two licenses build on KYTHERA's focus on developing and commercializing high-value, self-pay aesthetic products that have the promise to yield high patient satisfaction and enhanced self image," said Keith Leonard, KYTHERA's president and CEO. "Based on several years of research and clinical work already accomplished, we believe we have the possibility of reaching initial proof-of-concept data in a very capital efficient manner."

Under the terms of the agreement with Actelion, KYTHERA Holdings Ltd., a wholly-owned Bermuda subsidiary of KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., licensed the worldwide rights to setipiprant, a clinical-stage selective and potent oral antagonist to the prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) receptor. As part of the agreement, Actelion will be eligible to receive up to $27 million in potential development and regulatory milestones, as well as royalties on sales if setipiprant is successfully commercialized.

Under the terms of the agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, KYTHERA Holdings Ltd., acquired exclusive worldwide rights to certain patent rights owned by the University of Pennsylvania covering the use of PGD2 receptor antagonists for the treatment of hair loss (often presenting as male pattern baldness, or androgenic alopecia) under a license agreement facilitated by the Penn Center for Innovation. The discovery of the relationship between PGD2 and hair loss was made in the laboratory of Dr. George Cotsarelis and published in late 20111. KYTHERA has been supporting research in Dr. Cotsarelis' lab at the University of Pennsylvania over the last two years under sponsored research and option agreements to further develop and elucidate the initial reported observations.

"The University of Pennsylvania's discovery and associated intellectual property assets, combined with access to the PGD2 antagonist setipiprant, provide KYTHERA a strong foundation for this novel approach to hair loss," said Frederick Beddingfield, III, M.D., Ph.D., KYTHERA's Chief Medical Officer. "These observations are potentially the most innovative new thinking in hair loss over the last two decades. Setipiprant is believed to directly affect this hair loss pathway, and our own preclinical and in vitro human hair models confirmed this effect. It is a well-characterized molecule with a large safety database and we believe we can quickly initiate a development program to study it in hair loss. Putting these two pieces of the puzzle together is ideal and represents an example of our approach to scientifically sound and efficient drug development."

KYTHERA plans to conduct a human proof-of-concept study to establish the efficacy of setipiprant in male subjects with androgenic alopecia (AGA).