On July 9, 2015 Epizyme, reported that it has amended and restated its agreement with Celgene Corporation to extend the research collaboration between the two companies for at least three additional years (Press release, Epizyme, JUL 9, 2015, View Source [SID:1234506189]).

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Under the collaboration, Celgene will have the option to license histone methyltransferase (HMT) inhibitors being developed by Epizyme against three predefined targets.

Under the terms of the revised agreement:

Epizyme will receive a $10 million extension fee from Celgene in return for an option to individually license global rights for two of the targets and ex-US rights for the third target.
Celgene may exercise its option with respect to each of the targets at the time of the IND filing for an additional pre-specified license payment.
Epizyme will be responsible for leading and funding development for each target candidate through phase 1 clinical trials.
Following the completion of phase 1, if Celgene chooses to continue its license for a specific target, it may do so by making an additional pre-specified payment.
Epizyme may earn total potential milestones of up to $610 million on the three targets, including up to $75 million in development milestones and license fees, $365 million in regulatory milestones, and $170 million in sales milestones
Epizyme also may earn a royalty of up to a low double-digit percentage on worldwide net sales for two of the product candidates, and on ex-US net sales for the third product candidate.
Epizyme will retain global rights to the remainder of its pipeline, as Celgene’s option to license ex-US rights for any other preclinical programs will terminate.
In addition, Celgene will retain its ex-US license to, and the companies will continue their ongoing clinical collaboration on, pinometostat (EPZ-5676), a HMT inhibitor targeting DOT1L. Pinometostat is in phase 1 development for the treatment of patients with acute leukemia with alterations in the MLL gene (MLL-r).

"We believe that the extension of our agreement with Celgene will accelerate our goal of developing new therapies that have the potential to help many patients with epigenetically driven cancers," said Robert Gould, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Epizyme. "Celgene is a leading company in oncology development and commercialization and we are pleased to continue our partnership on pinometostat and these three exciting novel targets."

The term of this agreement is based on specific development milestones, including the timing of IND filings and completion of phase 1 studies, but will extend for a minimum of three years. In addition, Celgene will no longer have the right of first negotiation on a business combination with Epizyme.

Financial Update

The Company also announced today that, based on its current operating plans, it projects that its cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund operations through at least the end of the second quarter of 2017, prior to including any potential option exercise fees or future milestone payments. This new cash outlook reflects a significant reallocation of resources, implementation of cost savings initiatives, the additional capital provided from the Celgene extension fee payment and the partial exercise of the overallotment option in April from the Company’s March public financing.

"We have increased investment in tazemetostat development, both as a single agent and in future studies in combination with other agents," said Andrew Singer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Epizyme. "This required reprioritizing our pipeline development plans and reducing operating costs. We are excited about the updated data from our dose escalation and dose expansion studies presented at the International Congress on Malignant Lymphoma in Lugano, Switzerland on June 20. We look forward to presenting additional data at the European Society for Medical Oncology’s European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria on September 26."

About Tazemetostat (EPZ-6438)

Epizyme is developing tazemetostat for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients and patients with INI1-deficient solid tumors. Tazemetostat is a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of EZH2 developed by Epizyme. In many human cancers, aberrant EZH2 enzyme activity results in misregulation of genes that control cell proliferation resulting in the rapid and unconstrained growth of tumor cells. Tazemetostat is the WHO International Non-Proprietary Name (INN) for compound EPZ-6438.

Tazemetostat is the second HMT inhibitor to enter human clinical development (following Epizyme’s DOT1L inhibitor, pinometostat).

Epizyme is conducting a five-arm, multi-center international phase 2 clinical trial that will assess the safety and activity of tazemetostat in patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A phase 1 dose escalation and dose expansion trial of tazemetostat is also ongoing, with additional data expected to be reported later in 2015. Additional information about this program, including clinical trial information, may be found here: View Source

About Pinometostat (EPZ-5676)

Epizyme is developing pinometostat, a small molecule inhibitor of DOT1L created with Epizyme’s proprietary product platform, for the treatment of patients with acute leukemia in which the MLL gene is rearranged due to a chromosomal translocation (MLL-r). Due to these rearrangements, DOT1L is misregulated, resulting in the increased expression of genes causing leukemia. Pinometostat is the WHO International Non-Proprietary Name (INN) for compound EPZ-5676.

Epizyme believes that pinometostat was the first HMT inhibitor to enter human clinical development. Epizyme is currently conducting a two-stage Phase 1 study in adult MLL-r patients and in May 2014, initiated a Phase 1b study of pinometostat in pediatric patients with rearrangements of the MLL gene. The adult dose escalation cohorts have completed enrollment, and an adult MLL-r dose expansion cohort is now enrolling patients. Additional information about these ongoing Phase 1 studies can be found here: View Source

Pinometostat has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. and by the European Commission in Europe.

Epizyme retains all U.S. rights to pinometostat and has granted Celgene an exclusive license to pinometostat outside of the U.S.

On July 08, 2015

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center are working with GSK on a bench-to-bedside project to treat leukemia and other diseases by eliminating cancer stem cells. The collaboration is part of GSK’s Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) program, where academic partners become core members of drug-hunting teams. Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine, will lead UC San Diego’s effort in the new DPAc team.

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The UC San Diego-GSK DPAc team will collaborate to discover and develop a new therapeutic compound that inhibits RNA editing, a process cells use to enhance RNA diversity prior to translating genetic information into proteins. Jamieson’s group has shown that uncontrolled RNA editing helps cancer stem cells self-renew, making more malignant cells, in chronic myeloid leukemia and other blood cancers. Cancer stem cells can become dormant and evade chemotherapy and then activate again later, causing relapse of leukemia and other cancers and allowing tumors to resist treatment.

"The problem with leukemia is that in many cases while we can control the symptoms of disease, we can’t completely eradicate it because current therapies don’t block cancer stem cell self-renewal. Enhanced RNA editing is like a cancer stem cell engine, and with this collaboration we want to turn that engine off," said Jamieson, who is also deputy director of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center and director of stem cell research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. "We’re very fortunate to have this opportunity to work completely in step with a highly adept, dynamic company to take the RNA editing target idea from design to delivery of a new therapy that may prevent cancer relapse."

GSK launched DPAc as an independent unit in 2010. DPAc’s goal is to expedite promising basic research into drug discovery and development, with the potential to bring innovative new treatments to patients. Each selected project works as a joint team, with the academic and GSK scientists sharing data and working toward common goals. Through this arrangement, academic researchers benefit from GSK’s capabilities in medicinal chemistry and resources, such as state-of-the-art high-throughput screening technology — the expertise and automated equipment required to quickly and accurately screen millions of potential drug compounds for activity against a selected cellular target.

"We are honored to be selected to collaborate with GSK," said David A. Brenner, MD, vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of UC San Diego School of Medicine. "Paired with GSK’s expertise, our collaborative cancer stem cell research infrastructure, bolstered by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, National Cancer Institute and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, places our DPAc team in the best possible position for success."

To be considered for DPAc, academic research proposals must have a clear therapeutic hypothesis, a defined target that can likely be addressed with a drug-like molecule and be led by researchers with deep target and disease expertise, access to model systems and clinical samples to progress the target.

"The GSK DPAc program is highly selective and works to identify the best academics with the best targets for partnership," said Carolyn Buser-Doepner, PhD, vice present and global head of DPAc at GSK. "The UC San Diego collaboration represents several firsts for the DPAc team at GSK — it is our first target in the emerging area of RNA editing and it is our first bench-to-bedside DPAc collaboration with a California university. Furthermore, Dr. Jamieson is an ideal collaborator with deep target and disease expertise, a highly productive preclinical research team with access to clinical samples and the demonstrated ability to translate studies into the clinic."

"Academic researchers do science well, but we often need industry partners to help translate those discoveries into new therapeutics that will make a difference to patient lives," said Ida Deichaite, PhD, director of industry relations at Moores Cancer Center. "This DPAc arrangement is a first for the University of California and will hopefully provide a model for future collaborations."

In addition to a strong collaborative infrastructure, Jamieson credits major support from School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center leadership, including Brenner, Lawrence Goldstein, PhD, director of the Stem Cell Program, Wolfgang Dillmann, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, and Scott Lippman, MD, director of the Moores Cancer Center.

"This is a wonderful example of academia-industry collaboration to accelerate drug development and clinical impact," said Lippman, "and opens the door for cancer stem cell targeting from a completely new angle — inhibition of aberrant RNA editing."

"Groundbreaking research on the basic behavior of stem cells — during human development and in the pathology of disease — has long been one of our strengths at UC San Diego," said Goldstein, who is also scientific director of the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine and director of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center. "Now, those fundamental studies are paying off, as we begin to apply that information in the development of new therapies."