Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the fields of cancer metabolism and inborn errors of metabolism, has extended one additional year to the period of exclusivity for their strategic cancer metabolism collaboration with Celgene Corporation.
“The quality of the scientific interaction and collaboration with Agios has been outstanding,” said Thomas Daniel, MD, president of research for Celgene. “We are pleased that while AG-221 and AG-120 are advancing into clinical development, significant progress is also being made on new targets in cancer metabolism. We are delighted to extend our collaboration, building upon the unique synergies and a shared mission to help cancer patients live longer and better lives.”
As a result of the extension, Celgene will maintain its exclusive option to all drug candidates emerging from Agios’ cancer metabolism research platform through April 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, Agios will receive a $20 million payment. Celgene has the ability to further extend this collaboration period for one additional year for an additional payment.
“Celgene has been a tremendous partner, and we are thrilled to continue our partnership with them seeking to establish the leading research and development effort in the field of cancer metabolism,” said David Schenkein, CEO of Agios. “We believe that Agios’ unique approach to cancer metabolism, based on deep science, has the potential to fundamentally change the lives of cancer patients.”
Under the terms of the original agreement announced in April 2010, Agios received a $130 million upfront payment, including an equity investment that comprised the company’s Series B financing round. Agios leads research and early development efforts through phase I, while Celgene receives an option to obtain exclusive rights either upon IND acceptance or at the end of phase I, to further develop and commercialize drugs emerging from Agios’ cancer metabolism research. Celgene would lead and fund global development and commercialization of some of these drugs, and Agios would retain development and commercialization rights for certain drugs in the United States. On all programs, Agios has the right to receive up to $120 million in milestone-based payments as well as royalties on any sales.
In October 2011, Celgene and Agios agreed, ahead of schedule, to extend the discovery phase of their strategic collaboration targeting cancer metabolism, extending the initial period of exclusivity from three years to four years.
Agios Pharmaceuticals is focused on discovering and developing novel drugs to treat cancer and inborn errors of metabolism, or IEMs, which are rare genetic metabolic diseases, through scientific leadership in the field of cellular metabolism.