Friday, January 20, 2012

Avila spears $4M in milestone payment from Clovis

By Rodney Brown

Avila Therapeutics Inc. has triggered a $4 million milestone payment from partner Clovis Oncology Inc. now that a potential therapy for non-small cell lung cancer has reached a milestone stage with the FDA.

Bedford-based Avila reported in a release that CO-1686, a targeted inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), had been allowed an investigational new drug (IND) application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The compound CO-1686 will start Phase 1/2 studies in the U.S. and Europe in the second quarter of 2012, Avila said.

Katrine S. Bosley, CEO of Avila and a Mass High Tech Women to Watch honoree in 2011, said in the release that reaching the milestone is a demonstration of the ability of companies to design and develop therapies based in the company’s Avilomics platform.

Boulder, Colo.-based Clovis and Avila first entered into the collaboration deal in May 2010, in an agreement that has the potential to bring $209 million to Avila. According to the release about today’s milestone, this is the first that Avila could have achieved, meaning many more potential milestone payments in the $209 million possible pile are yet to come.

In August, Avila moved from its original home in Waltham to a new facility in Bedford with 23,000 square feet, that more than doubled its space, in anticipation of growth as its product pipeline advances.  Other partners of Avila include Sanofi and the Novartis Option Fund.