Friday, August 8, 2008

Archemix expands deal with Ribomic up to a possible $200M

By Mass High Tech Staff

Archemix Corp. of Cambridge reports that it has entered into a licensing deal worth up to $200 million with Ribomic Inc.

The deal gives Tokyo-based Ribomic a worldwide, non-exclusive license to some of Archemix’s intellectual property rights to develop aptamers against multiple targets, for which Ribomic will pay Archemix $6 million up front.

Ribomic could also pay a further fee to make the licenses exclusive on a target-by-target basis, according to Archemix officials. If that option is exercised, Archemix would be eligible to receive milestone payments and a royalty on any marketed products developed under the agreement.

According to Errol De Souza, president and CEO of Archemix, the company entered into a one-target deal with Ribomic last year.

Aptamers are synthetically-derived short nucleic acid sequences that bind well to specific protein targets and can be designed to have a specified duration of action.

Archemix had flirted with the public markets, having filed for an IPO on July 25, 2007, hoping to raise $69 million and had planned to sell 4.5 million shares at $12 to $14 each. The company cancelled its IPO plans in February 2008 due to “unfavorable market conditions.”