The Medicines Company announced that it has acquired a late stage development compound known as cangrelor from AstraZeneca. Cangrelor, a non-thienopyridine, which is given by injection, acts directly on the P2Y12 platelet receptor, a clinically validated target to treat or prevent arterial thrombosis. There is currently no short-acting, intravenous, P2Y12 antagonist approved for acute patient care.

Investigators in the US and Europe have reported results of clinical trials studying cangrelor in approximately 500 patients to date. These data demonstrate inhibition of platelet activation and aggregation within seconds of starting drug administration and recovery of platelet function within less than 60 minutes after stopping infusion. Cangrelor has also demonstrated in studies a plasma half-life of approximately ten minutes.

Under terms of the agreement with AstraZeneca, The Medicines Company has acquired rights to develop, market and sell cangrelor worldwide excluding Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. The Medicines Company will make an upfront payment, will provide milestone payments upon regulatory approval in major markets and will pay royalties on product sales.

The Medicines Company plans to develop cangrelor for potential use as an antiplatelet agent in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions such as angioplasty and stenting. The initial focus of development will be to further study whether the short onset and offset of action at the P2Y12 receptor may provide important practical advantages over existing oral and parenteral agents in high through-put cardiac catheterization centers. Several features of the development program will be similar to those followed for The Medicines Company's lead product, Angiomax (bivalirudin), and combination studies of Angiomax and cangrelor may be pursued. The Medicines Company may also develop cangrelor in acute coronary syndromes and cardiovascular surgery.

Dave Stack, president and CEO of The Medicines Company commented, "Our customers have expressed a high level of need for a product such as cangrelor. They are demanding pharmaceuticals that are predictable, potent, highly controllable and with short duration of effect. As they have seen with Angiomax, these attributes can improve clinical performance, flexibility, efficiency and cost of patient care."

Clive Meanwell, executive chairman of The Medicines Company added, "This is another great fit for our business - perfectly complementing Angiomax and Clevelox (clevidipine), which we licensed from AstraZeneca last year. We are again honoured to be working with a high quality AstraZeneca-invented compound and we look forward to moving cangrelor quickly into Phase III trials."