Monday, November 3, 2008

Biogen Idec to pay Genentech $31.5M in R&D deal

By Mass High Tech Staff

Biogen Idec has agreed to pay Genentech Inc. $31.5 million upfront in a research and development deal involving an antibody that Genentech recently took on as part of an acquisition.

Cambridge-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) will work with South San Francisco, Calif.-based Genentech (NYSE: DNA) on a new blood cancer molecule, GA101. Genentech had purchased the rights to the molecule from Glycart, a business owned by Roche. The companies described GA101 as a new, humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody engineered to increase both direct- and immune-mediated target cell death for blood cell malignancies.

Biogen Idec will pay $31.5 million to Genentech to participate in the program, which will be recorded as an R&D expense in Biogen’s fourth-quarter 2008 financial statements. The two businesses will share some development costs as well as profits and losses on the drug in the United States. Roche still has rights to commercialize the drug outside the United States.

GA101 is in Phase I/II clinical trials for diseases such as non-Hodgkins lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. GlycArt and Roche are expected to provide an update on Phase I results for GA101 at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in December.