Firm will receive$37 million in funding over the next two years on top of an initial fee and equity investment.
Astex Therapeutics and Janssen Pharmaceutica inked an alliance focused on cancer drugs. The deal provides for an upfront payment and equity investment in Astex plus committed research funding totaling $37.4 million over a two-year period.
Astex will also receive downstream development and regulatory milestones relating to all programs. Total fees under the collaboration, excluding royalties, could be worth over $500 million, assuming one product from each program is successfully commercialized in all territories.
Janssen Pharmaceutica will receive an exclusive license to compounds arising from Astex’ FGFR inhibitor program. The companies will also collaborate to identify inhibitors against two more cancer drug targets.
Janssen will also pay tiered, double-digit royalties on sales of FGFR inhibitors and additional royalties on new products generated under the other research programs.
Ortho Biotech Research & Development, the R&D arm of Janssen Pharmaceutica, will be responsible for completing all of the preclinical and clinical development of all products arising from the collaboration and for their commercialization globally. The agreement grants Astex an option to cocommercialize FGFR products in the U.S.
Astex’ FGFR inhibitors, developed using its fragment-based drug discovery platform, Pyramid™, are expected to have significant potential in the treatment of a range of common tumors, according to the firms.
