Ampio signs deal with Biocon unit on sexual dysfunction drug

REUTERS - Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NAQ:AMPE - News) signed a deal with Syngene, a unit of Bangalore-based Biocon Ltd (NSI:BIOCON.NS - News), to produce its experimental drug for premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction, sending its shares up 23 percent.

The combination drug, Zertane-ED, would be made by Syngene, Ampio said.

Ampio's Korea-based partner Daewoong Co Ltd <003090.KS> will finance and conduct late-stage studies in South Korea.

"We will be working with Daewoong to get the study approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and in South Korea, but there is no specific timeline yet," a company spokesman told Reuters.

The drug would combine Ampio's experimental drug Zertane, which is being tested in a late-stage trial to treat premature ejaculation, with an erectile dysfunction drug similar to Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) blockbuster medicine Viagra.

There are currently no approved drugs in the United States to treat premature ejaculation and Ampio estimates up to 30 percent of males treated for premature ejaculation also suffer from erectile dysfunction.

The biopharmaceutical company is also developing three other products to treat inflammation and eye damage due to diabetes.

Shares of the company were up 11 percent at $5.68 on Monday on the Nasdaq, after soaring to $6.25.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

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Ampio signs deal with Biocon unit on sexual dysfunction drug