Friday, February 6, 2009

Idenix, GSK sign $400M HIV/AIDS treatment deal

By Marc Songini

Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. has inked a deal with drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC potentially worth more than $400 million.

This week, Idenix (Nasdaq: IDIX) announced it had granted GSK exclusive worldwide license rights to its IDX899 drug. IDX899 is a new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor in the Phase 2 clinical stage. Idenix considers it a potential treatment for HIV/AIDS that can address the issue of viral resistance and the side effects associated with this drug class.

Under the terms of the deal, GSK will assume all development responsibility and costs for IDX899. For its part, Idenix gets an upfront payment of $34 million; development, regulatory and sales milestones will be worth as much as $416 million. Moreover, if IDX899 is successfully developed and commercialized, Idenix stands to earn double-digit tiered global royalties.

Last February , Idenix reported that IDX899 significantly reduced HIV levels in eight infected patients following a week of treatments. Idenix also claims IDX899 has shown high potency with low milligram doses and can be administered on a once-a-day basis.

Idenix focuses on the discovery and development of drugs that treat human viral and other infectious diseases. Currently, it’s working on treating infections caused by the hepatitis C virus. For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008, Idenix saw revenues of $2.1 million, down from $10.9 million in the third quarter of 2007. It attributed the decrease to a decline of $7.4 million in reimbursements for research and development costs from collaboration partner Novartis Pharma AG. Additionally, Idenix had a net loss of $16.9 million, compared to a net loss of $30.5 million for the third quarter of 2007.