Diurnal enters Israeli market for adrenal insufficiency therapies

AIM-listed pharmaceutical Diurnal has signed a marketing and distribution deal with Israeli healthcare products firm Medison Pharma for its adrenal insufficiency therapies.

The deal will commercialise Diurnal's Infacort and Chronocort products which treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in Israel, which the company sees as a significant market opportunity given the estimated higher prevalence of CAH in the country.

Diurnal claims that there are around 1,000 patients in Israel, providing a total market opportunity for Infacort and Chronocort to be about $7m a year.

Once approved by the European Medicines Agency by the end of 2017, Infacortis, which is designed for use in children suffering from adrenal insufficiency including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, is expected to be submitted for marketing authorisation in Israel with potential of approval during 2018.

As part of the agreement, Medison will have the exclusive rights to market and sell Infacort and Chronocort, a treatment designed to mimic the natural circadian rhythm of cortisol when given in a twice-a-day toothbrush regimen for the treatment of adult CAH, in Israel.

The company said that Infacort has the potential to be the first preparation of hydrocortisone - the synthetic version of cortisol - specifically designed for use in children suffering from adrenal insufficiency, including CAH.

Prof. Naomi Weintrob, senior pediatric endocrinologist, scientific advisor at Israeli CAH Association, said: "Infacort and Chronocort have the potential to address a significant unmet medical need for patients with adrenal insufficiency and congenital adrenal hyperplasia who are not currently being treated satisfactorily.

“Infacort allows delivery of hydrocortisone in accurate and small doses, which are best suited for infants and young children, and Chronocort is designed to imitate diurnal physiologic cortisol secretion."

Diurnal chief executive Dr Martin Whitaker added: "The agreement with Medison marks a further validation of the quality of our products and provides us with the ability to distribute Infacort outside our core territories of Europe and the US. We believe that our strategic objectives and global ambitions are aligned with this important new partner, which also provides a blueprint for other similar agreements, addressing selected high value markets, in the future."

Shares in Diurnal were up 3.35% to 137.98p at 0912 GMT.