Pharmaceutical company UNION therapeutics A/S on Thursday acquired an option for the worldwide exclusive license for the use of their Thin Film Freezing technology relating to the formulations of niclosamide from TFF Pharmaceuticals Inc for the treatment for COVID-19.

Pursuant to the agreement, UNION will pay TFF up to USD210m related to option exercise, development and commercial milestones, as well as tiered single-digit royalties on product sales.

In conjunction, UNION is already progressing the niclosamide-based product UNI911 through clinic development and the agreement with TFF has the potential to substantially broaden UNION's niclosamide product offering.

Niclosamide was recently identified by Institut Pasteur Korea as a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. TFF has developed alternative oral and inhalation versions of niclosamide, which are currently being prepared for human studies, based on research from the University of Texas and its patented formulation technology and expertise.

TFF' Thin Film Freezing (TFF) platform improves the solubility and absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs and is suited to generate dry powder particles with properties targeted for inhalation delivery, especially to the deep lung. Based upon laboratory experiments , the aerodynamic properties of the particles are such that the portion of a drug deposited to the deep lung has the potential to reach 75%.