Napo Pharma, ex-partner battle over control of diarrhea drug

Nearly four months after a key partnership blew up, Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc . said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration will decide by June 5 whether to approve its drug to treat chronic diarrhea in HIV/AIDS patients on antiretroviral therapy.
The FDA will give priority review, but that does nothing to clear up just who controls the drug, called crofelemer, whose active ingredient comes from the South American medicinal plant Croton lechleri.
The new drug application was filed by Salix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SLXP) in December, a month after Napo ended a three-year collaboration with the Raleigh, N.C.-based company.