NitroMed to Get $2.6M in NO Deal

[[Updated: see editor’s note below]]NitroMed, a Lexington, MA-based drug development firm, says it has struck a deal with French biotech firm NicOx to sell and license nitric oxide-based technology to NicOx. NicOx will pay NitroMed an initial fee of $2.6 million, and NitroMed is eligible for future payments of $5.2 million from NicOx based on certain terms. NitroMed (NASDAQ:[[ticker:NTMD]]), which makes heart failure drug isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine hydrochloride (BiDil) for self-identified Black patients, says that the initial fee from NicOx would be distributed to shareholders if the payment is received before NitroMed closes its merger with entities affiliated with investment group Deerfield Management. The merger was approved at a stockholders’ meeting this week and is expected to close “as soon as practical.” [[Editor’s note: this story was updated with the amount of future payments NitroMed could receive in this licensing deal with NicOx.]]

Author: Ryan McBride

Ryan is an award-winning business journalist who contributes to our life sciences and technology coverage. He was previously a staff writer for Mass High Tech, a Boston business and technology newspaper, where he and his colleagues won a national business journalism award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 2008. In recent years, he has made regular TV appearances on New England Cable News. Prior to MHT, Ryan covered the life sciences, technology, and energy sectors for Providence Business News. He graduated with honors from the University of Rhode Island in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in communications. When he’s not chasing down news, Ryan enjoys mountain biking and skiing in his home state of Vermont.