Manchester-headquartered drug researcher C4X Discovery has signed a licensing agreement with Indivior UK.

Insider Media reports the deal has been struck to further develop and commercialise C4XD’s Orexin-1 receptor antagonist for the treatment of addiction, which it aims to do by targeting the craving process itself. Under the terms of the agreement, C4XD will receive an upfront payment of $10m (£7.11m) and could secure up to $284m (£202m) of potential development, regulatory and commercialisation milestones in addition to royalties. In turn, Indivior will receive a global and exclusive licence to Orexin-1 and all other compounds in the same patent family.

Dr Clive Dix, chief executive of C4X Discovery, said “Our goal is to drive returns through early-stage revenue-generating deals with the pharmaceutical industry. This agreement will allow us to accelerate the development of our portfolio to similar successful commercial arrangements and validates our business model.”