On March 13, 2017 Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIO) reported that Celgene Corporation has designated the development candidate focused on MTAP (methylthioadenosine phosphorylase) deleted cancers as a development candidate under the master research and collaboration agreement (the "Agreement") dated May 17, 2016 (Press release, Agios Pharmaceuticals, MAR 13, 2017, View Source [SID1234518084]). Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo! Under the terms of the Agreement, Celgene will pay Agios an $8 million designation fee for the MTAP pathway program. Exploratory research, drug discovery and early development on the MTAP pathway program is led by Agios, and Celgene will have an opt-in right on the program up through Phase 1 dose escalation for at least a $30 million fee. Upon opt-in, Celgene and Agios will have global co-development and co-commercialization rights with a worldwide 50/50 cost and profit share on the MTAP pathway program, and Agios will be eligible for up to $169 million in clinical and regulatory milestone payments.
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"We are pleased that Celgene has designated this fourth development candidate discovered and developed at Agios since the beginning of our research collaboration with them in 2010," said Scott Biller, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Agios. "We have clearly demonstrated our ability to translate novel Agios discoveries into important precision medicines in areas of high unmet need with our IDH portfolio. We look forward to exploring the potential of our MTAP program in patients following our expected IND submission by the end of this year."
MTAP-deletions are present in approximately 15 percent of all cancers. As described in a 2016 Cell Reports publication, Agios discovered a novel pathway in MTAP-deleted tumors which, when inhibited, results in robust anti-tumor activity in animal models. This pathway can be modulated by small molecule inhibitors, as demonstrated in a preclinical data presentation at the Keystone Tumor Metabolism meeting in Whistler, British Columbia on March 9, 2016. The presentation can be found under Publications in the Research section of the Agios website (www.agios.com).
The $8 million designation fee is expected to be received in the second quarter of 2017.