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Pharmaceuticals

Exelixis Expands Collaboration With Bristol-Myers Squibb

Pharmaceuticals: New deals accompany the biotech's increased focus on compounds in late-stage development

by Rick Mullin
October 12, 2010

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Credit: Exelixis
Exelixis is now involved in five discovery and development pacts with its lead partner
Credit: Exelixis
Exelixis is now involved in five discovery and development pacts with its lead partner

Following the termination of a codevelopment pact with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) on XL184, the most advanced drug in its pipeline, Exelixis announced two new agreements with BMS on Oct 11. Exelixis and BMS could not agree on clinical development of XL 184, which is in Phase III trials for thyroid cancer and Phase II trials for glioblastoma (C&EN, June 28, page 22).

In the new deals, the South San Francisco biotech says it has granted BMS an exclusive license to its small-molecule TGR5 agonist for treatment of diabetes under which BMS will have sole responsibility for research and development as well as for commercialization. The two companies will also collaborate on discovery and development of small-molecule ROR antagonists as anti inflammatory drugs. The collaboration will take the ROR antagonists to the point of preclinical trials, after which BMS will assume responsibility for R&D and commercialization. BMS will make a combined payment to Exelixis of $60 million for both deals.

Exelixis will be eligible for up to $250 million in milestone payments for the TGR5 agonist and $255 million for the ROR antagonists. Exelixis announced several other adjustments to its ongoing collaborations with BMS, including a decision to opt out of co-developing XL139, a cancer compound, in the interest of concentrating on Phase III clinical development of XL184. Exelixis will receive an undisclosed accelerated milestone payment in exchange. And the firm says the ROR antagonist deal is predicated on BMS  waiving its rights to an additional cancer drug under a drug discovery agreement the companies signed in 2006.

 "These transactions leverage our discovery expertise with the development expertise of Bristol-Myers Squibb in inflammation and metabolic diseases, and provide important additional resources for us to continue our focus on our clinical stage development pipeline," says Michael M. Morrissey, CEO of Exelixis. In 2008, BMS signed on to co-develop two compounds, including XL184, rejected by Glaxo-Smith-Kline at the end of a six-year collaboration.

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