Arecor enters formulation partnership with Skye Bioscience

(Sharecast News) - Arecor Therapeutics announced on Monday that it has entered a formulation development partnership with Skye Bioscience to create an improved version of Skye's investigational obesity treatment, nimacimab. The AIM-traded firm said the collaboration would apply its proprietary 'Arestat' technology to develop a higher-concentration formulation of the CB1-inhibiting monoclonal antibody, which was currently being evaluated in a phase 2a trial.

Initial data from the ongoing 'CBeyond' study was expected late in the third or early in the fourth quarter of this year.

Skye would fund Arecor's development work, and held an option to license the new formulation and related intellectual property for further development and commercialisation.

"We are pleased to partner with Skye Bioscience to support the development of a novel, enhanced formulation of nimacimab, a promising first-in-class candidate with the potential to address significant unmet needs in metabolic disease," said chief executive officer Sarah Howell.

"This collaboration highlights the strength of our proprietary Arestat technology in enabling the development of enhanced therapeutic products that can improve patient outcomes and supports our strategy of bringing innovative medicines to market that address significant unmet patient needs in high-value markets."

Howell said Arecor entered 2025 with "significant momentum", adding that it marked the third formulation development collaboration to be established by Arecor with partner companies so far this year.

"Together these have a total pre-license deal value in excess of £1m, and provide Arecor with significant upside potential from future licensing opportunities."

At 1137 BST, shares in Arecor Therapeutics were up 11.59% at 45.75p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.