UPDATE: Novartis, Immunogen To Co-Produce Cancer Drugs
October 11 2010 - 6:12AM
Dow Jones News
Switzerland's Novartis AG (NVS) and Immunogen Inc (IMGN) Monday
said they signed a collaboration deal to develop novel cancer
treatments based on the U.S. biotech firm's technology.
As part of the collaboration, Immunogen will receive an upfront
fee of $45 million. Milestones payments are also possible and could
reach around $200 million per research target, the number of which
hasn't been disclosed, Immunogen said.
"This deal reflects the industry-wide interest in our technology
and certainly provides more financial flexibility to us," Immunogen
Chief Executive Dan Junius told Dow Jones Newswires in an
interview.
Immunogen, which already has partnership deals with large
pharmaceutical companies and several compounds in clinical
research, had about $110 million in cash at the end of June, CEO
Junius said.
Under the arrangement Novartis and Immunogen will work together
to develop so-called antibody drug conjugates to treat cancer, a
novel technology that is considered to be more effective than
traditional chemotherapy.
Unlike in chemotherapy, where cancerous and healthy cells are
destroyed during treatment, Immunogen's technology includes
cancer-killing agents that are attached to an antibody that can be
directly transported to affected cells. This targeted therapy is
helping reduce side-effects that are common in chemotherapy.
Immunogen already has partnerships with Swiss drug maker Roche
Holding AG (ROG.VX) and Sanofi-Aventis SA (SAN.FR) of France.
The collaboration with Roche includes experimental breast cancer
drug T-DM1 which, if approved, could turn into a potential
blockbuster with more than $1 billion in sales. Although the
medicine recently failed to win priority review from U.S.
regulators, recent data suggests the medicine could become an
effective treatment in breast cancer. Other experimental drugs
include SAR3419, which is currently tested in non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma and is licensed to Sanofi-Aventis.
CEO Junius said interest in Immunogen's technology is growing
and that it would seek partnership to bring the technology forward
but that such deals shouldn't disrupt Immunogen's ability to
develop its own drug compounds.
-By Goran Mijuk, Dow Jones Newswires, +41 43 443 80 47;
goran.mijuk@dowjones.com
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