AstraZeneca Sets Up Discovery Alliances

AstraZeneca has signed three deals with small discovery firms. The drug company will work with Bind Therapeutics to develop an Accurin, a targeted nanomedicine, against a kinase inhibitor. Cambridge, Mass.-based Bind could receive up-front and milestone fees totaling more than $199 million. In another deal, Australia’s Alchemia will use its “versatile assembly on stable templates” chemistry to discover small molecules against multiple AstraZeneca targets. In return, AstraZeneca will pay an undisclosed amount up front and up to $240 million in milestone payments. And back home in the U.K., AstraZeneca is spending up to $75 million to access Horizon Discovery’s kinase target program for discovering cancer drugs.