Businessweek

Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated, a pharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of severe metabolic and psychiatric disorders. The company’s focus is on those disorders that are associated with a steroid hormone called cortisol. The company focuses on commercializing Korlym (mifepristone) 300 mg Tablet, a once-daily oral medication for treatment of hyperglycemia secondary to hypercortisolism in adult patients with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome, who have type 2 diabetes mellitus or glucose intolerance and have failed surgery or are not candidates for surgery. The company received Orphan Drug Designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) for Korlym for the treatment of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome in both the United States and the European Union. The company is also developing mifepristone—Korlym’s active ingredient—for treatment of the psychotic features of psychotic depression under a patent license from Stanford University. It has an on-going Phase 3 study of mifepristone. The FDA has granted ‘fast track’ status to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mifepristone for the treatment of the psychotic features of psychotic depression. As a GR-II antagonist, mifepristone appears to mitigate the effects of the elevated and abnormal release patterns of cortisol in patients suffering from psychotic depression. It intends mifepristone to be a once-daily treatment given to patients with psychotic depression through seven consecutive days in a controlled setting, such as a hospital or physician’s office. The company has also discovered three series of additional compounds, including like mifepristone, potently block the GR-II receptor, and unlike mifepristone, do not block the progesterone receptor. One of these compounds, CORT 108297, is in a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial. CORT 108297 is for the prevention and reversal of weight gain caused by olanzapine, a medication marketed by Eli Lilly and Company as Zyprexa. Research and Development As of December 31, 201, the company incurred approximately $21.0 million of research and development expenses. Intellectual Property The company’s registered trademarks include Corcept and CORLUX. A trademark is pending with respect to Korlym. It also owns issued U.S. patents for the use of GR-II antagonists in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment, for the treatment of weight gain following treatment with antipsychotic medication, for the prevention and treatment of stress disorders, for increasing the therapeutic response to electroconvulsive therapy, for the treatment of delirium, for the treatment of catatonia, for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, and for inhibiting cognitive deterioration in adults with Down’s Syndrome. The expiration dates of these patents and their foreign counterparts range from 2020 to 2028. History Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated was founded in 1998.