Amgen has boosted its pain-drug portfolio by signing a deal with SiteOne Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bozeman, Montana that focuses on pain therapeutics. The agreement combines SiteOne’s drug discovery team and portfolio of sodium-ion channel inhibitors with Amgen’s neuroscience capabilities.

SiteOne’s therapeutic candidates are selective sodium ion channel 1.7 (NaV1.7) inhibitors based on naturally occurring small molecules. NaV1.7 plays a role in the generation and conduction of pain signals.

SiteOne was founded with technology licensed from Stanford University. The company has support from its founding investors as well as from the National Institutes of Health which contributed more than $3 million in Small Business Innovation Research grant funding. SiteOne has also closed a $15-million series B round of financing, led by Amgen and joined by founding investors Next Frontier Capital, 2M Companies Inc., Mission Bay Capital, Sears Capital Management, Biobrit LLC, and Z Investments.

Source: SiteOne Therapeutics