Exelixis has announced that it has earned a $10 million milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) under the terms of the two companies’ worldwide collaboration for compounds targeting retinoic acid-related orphan receptor (ROR), a family of nuclear hormone receptors implicated in inflammatory conditions. The milestone payment was triggered by Bristol-Myers Squibb’s filing of a Clinical Trial Authorization in Europe for a first-in-human study of a ROR?t inverse agonist.

“Exelixis is closely focused on oncology, but our legacy of drug discovery across diverse therapeutic areas lives on through our collaborations with our partners, including the ROR?t inverse agonist program now advanced by Bristol-Myers Squibb,” said Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Exelixis. “We congratulate Bristol-Myers Squibb on its plans for a first-in-human study and look forward to future updates.”

From October 2010 to July 2013, Exelixis and Bristol-Myers Squibb undertook collaborative research around ROR?t, with Exelixis and Bristol-Myers Squibb responsible for the discovery, optimization, and characterization of ROR?t inverse agonists that could subsequently be developed and commercialized by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Since the end of the collaborative research period, Bristol-Myers Squibb has been solely responsible for all further research, development, manufacture, and potential commercialization of compounds developed under the collaboration, as well as all related costs and expenses. Exelixis received an upfront payment at the start of the collaboration in 2010, as well as a $2.5 million development milestone related to preclinical progress in February 2017. Exelixis could potentially receive additional development and regulatory milestones of up to $240 million, commercialization milestones of up to $150 million, and royalties on net sales depending on the advancement of the product candidate and eventual product.