Sanofi-aventis announced that it has signed a worldwide strategic alliance with Avila Therapeutics Inc. to discover targeted covalent drugs for the treatment of cancers. Under the alliance agreement sanofi-aventis obtains a worldwide exclusive license to develop and commercialize the compounds resulting from the discovery collaboration.

As part of the research alliance, sanofi-aventis will work together with Avila to design targeted covalent drugs directed towards six signalling proteins that are critical in tumour cells. The targets to be explored under the collaboration are difficult to approach with traditional pharmaceutical treatments, but are potentially amenable to Avila’s targeted covalent drug technology. Under the terms of the agreement, for the selected targets sanofi-aventis will have access to Avila’s proprietary Avilomics platform that offers a unique approach to “protein silencing” that cannot be achieved through traditional medicinal chemistry.

Covalent drugs are uniquely able to establish a strong and enduring ‘bond’ – exceeding the more temporary ‘binding’ of conventional drugs – to completely shut down the activity of, and silence, a disease-causing protein. Covalent drugs may provide prolonged duration of action through this silencing of the disease target, and have the potential for unique therapeutic benefits because they are targeted and effective against mutations.

“Avila Therapeutics’ expertise in designing targeted covalent drugs offers a new way to solve difficult pharmacological challenges in oncology and to address important cancer targets,” said Debasish Roychowdhury, MD, senior vice president and head of oncology, sanofi-aventis. “We believe that Avila’s approach adds to our growing portfolio of research capabilities that will provide medicines which substantially improve patient outcomes.”

“Sanofi-aventis has a clear vision to transform cancer research, and its commitment to innovation has been very tangible to us as we worked together to establish this alliance,” said Katrine Bosley, president and chief executive officer of Avila Therapeutics. “This partnership directs the combination of our broadly relevant Avilomics platform and sanofi-aventis’ oncology insights towards the goal of delivering best-in-class medicines for patients who are fighting serious diseases.”

Avila has the opportunity to retain the rights to one of the six collaboration programs after the end of the initial three-year collaboration term and sanofi-aventis retains a right of first negotiation for such programme should Avila decide to partner that programme. Avila will receive up to 40 million US dollars in upfront and research support payments, and is eligible to receive pre-clinical, clinical and regulatory milestone payments up to 154 million US dollars per collaboration programme if the respective product is approved in the US, Europe and Japan. Avila may also receive staged royalties and commercial milestones on product sales in each of the programmes advanced by sanofi-aventis.

Avila focuses on design and development of targeted covalent drugs to achieve best-in class outcomes that cannot be achieved through traditional chemistries. This approach is called “protein silencing”. The company’s product pipeline has been built using its proprietary Avilomics platform and is currently focused on viral infection, cancer and autoimmune disease. Avila is funded by leading venture capital firms: Abingworth, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Novartis Option Fund, and Polaris Venture Partners.

Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions to improve the lives of everyone. Sanofi-aventis Oncology is targeting cancer on several fronts in an effort to address unmet medical needs for a broad range of patients. Starting with a deep understanding of the mechanisms by which cancers develop, grow and spread, as well as translating this deep scientific understanding early in the drug discovery process, the company employs innovative approaches to bring the right medicines to the right patients.