Agreement worth over $1 billion covers research activities and license of two early-stage compounds.
Sanofi-aventis has licensed two cancer drug candidates from Exelixis and entered an oncology-related drug discovery partnership with a $140 million up-front fee. Exelixis will receive guaranteed research funding of $21 million over three years.
Completion of various developmental, regulatory, and commercial milestones could earn Exelixis more than $1 billion. The firm will also be entitled to royalties on net sales of any product brought to market under this collaboration.
The license agreement covers XL147 and XL 765, which are currently in Phase I and Phase Ib/II investigations. Sanofi-aventis will be responsible for all future clinical, regulatory, commercial, and manufacturing endeavors related to XL147 and XL 765. Exelixis will participate in ongoing as well as future clinical trials and may also be involved in manufacturing. XL147 is a PI3K inhibitor, and XL765 is a PI3K/TORC1/TORC2 inhibitor.
Under the discovery collaboration, Exelixis and sanofi-aventis will combine efforts in establishing several preclinical PI3K programs. They will share responsibility for research and preclinical activities related to isoform-selective inhibitors of PI3K. Sanofi-aventis will have sole responsibility for all subsequent clinical, regulatory, commercial, and manufacturing activities of any products arising from the collaboration. Exelixis, however, may be responsible for conducting certain clinical trials.
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