I thought we would see a little pop Nippon Shinyaku is absorbing all costs of trials etc.

Labopharm Completes Agreement With Nippon Shinyaku For Once-daily Tramadol Pain Drug - Update

(RTTNews) - Thursday, Labopharm Inc. (DDSS) (DDS.TO) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Labopharm Europe Ltd., has completed a licensing and distribution agreement for once-daily tramadol pain drug with Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd. of Japan.

The agreement entitles Labopharm to receive an up-front payment and additional payments related to the achievement of certain regulatory and commercialization milestones.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nippon Shinyaku has the exclusive right to market and sell Labopharm's once-daily tramadol product in Japan. Labopharm will supply Nippon Shinyaku with unpackaged tablets and will receive a fixed transfer price, as well as a royalty on net sales of the product.

The company said that regulatory approval in Japan may require additional clinical trials and Nippon Shinyaku will assume all costs related to the clinical and regulatory approval process.

Labopharm's once-daily tramadol pain drug has already been launched in 17 countries. The company markets its once-daily tramadol product primarily through licensing and distribution arrangements with local pharmaceutical companies.

DDSS closed Wednesday's trading at $1.43 down 2.72% on a volume of 602 thousand shares.

On the TSX, DDS.TO closed the day's trading at C$1.45 down 0.68% on a volume of 155,500 shares.