Thursday, December 1, 2011

Aveo asks Boehringer to make anti-tumor drug

By Rodney H. Brown

Cambridge biotech Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc. has picked German pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim to be the large-scale producer of its tumor-fighting drug ficlatuzumab, which is currently in Phase 2 trials.

Aveo (Nasdaq: AVEO) noted in a release today that ficlatuzumab will be produced in batches large enough to meet its clinical trials needs at the Boehringer Ingelheim site in Fremont, Calif. The company did not disclose any financial details of the agreement. In 2006, Aveo contracted with Calif.-based Xoma to manufacture and supply ficlatuzumab – also known as AV-299 – in smaller doses to meet early clinical trials needs.

The drug ficlatuzumab is an antibody that is an antagonist of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which is believed to play “an important role in regulating tumor growth, invasion and metastasis,” according to Aveo. The Phase 2 trials under way for ficlatuzumab are with patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

In 2007, Aveo partnered with Schering-Plough Corp. to develop AV-299, which then also gained the designation SCH900105. Aveo received a $7.5 million upfront payment and a $10 million equity investment from Schering-Plough, and later earned a $3 million milestone payment for beginning human studies with the drug in 2008.  In September 2010, after Merck & Co. bought Schering-Plough for $41 billion, Aveo regained development and commercialization rights to AV-299.

In June, Aveo closed a public offering of stock that raised net proceeds of about $104.3 million, placing a total of 6.4 million shares of common stock, with 5.75 million shares offered up front and 602,119 shares sold through an underwriter over-allotment option.