Jan. 17, 2001--Corixa Corporation (Nasdaq:CRXA - news), a research and development-based biotechnology company, and CoPharma, Inc., a Massachusetts-based integrated pharmaceutical development company, today announced a license, development and commercialization agreement for Corixa's cardioprotectant, RC.552(TM).
Under the terms of the agreement, CoPharma will develop and commercialize Corixa's RC.552 for the treatment and prevention of cardiac disorders, neuronal damage and ischemia-reperfusion injuries.
The agreement provides CoPharma with exclusive rights to develop and market RC.552 in the licensed indications in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, as well as certain other countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. CoPharma will manage product development, including clinical trials and regulatory submissions and have an option for product manufacturing. CoPharma will pay Corixa a license fee, success-based milestone payments and a combination of royalties and profit-share in the event of CoPharma product sales. The collaboration will be overseen by a joint steering committee made up of representatives from both companies. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed by either party.
RC.552 is a member of a family of compounds called aminoalkyl glucosaminide 4-phosphates or AGPs, which exert marked biological effects on a variety of cells and tissues. AGPs are the result of long-standing research and development activity on the part of the former Ribi Immunochem Research, Inc., a company acquired by Corixa in October 1999. RC.552 is believed to mediate its tissue-sparing protection from ischemic damage by inducing nitric oxide synthase. Other AGP molecules mediate distinct cellular effects. For example, Corixa's RC-529(TM), now in Phase III clinical trials, functions as a potent vaccine adjuvant.
``We are pleased to be working with CoPharma to further the development of our novel cardioprotectant, RC.552(TM),'' stated Steven Gillis, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Corixa. ``We continue to be impressed with the potent preclinical bioactivity of multiple AGPs and are pleased with our progress in development and licensing of these molecules since our acquisition of Ribi Immunochem Research, Inc. Our relationship with CoPharma, together with initiation of RC-529 adjuvant Phase III clinical trials, are recent examples of the broad product potential of discrete members of the AGP family.''
``This partnership with Corixa is a key component of our business strategy to develop early to mid-stage clinical compounds through innovative partnering arrangements,'' said Samuel K. Ackerman, MD, President and CEO of CoPharma. ``RC.552 will be a major product in our growing portfolio of development-stage proprietary products in the fields of critical care, infectious disease and cancer. As shown in preclinical studies by numerous laboratories internationally, RC.552 appears to be a potent and nontoxic cardioprotectant that can prevent experimental cardiac damage in multiple animal species. As with other CoPharma products, a number of important clinical applications may be possible. We look forward to working with Corixa and to initiating clinical trials in the near future.''
About RC.552
Ischemia-reperfusion injury is damage that can occur in tissue during the oxygen deprivation of interrupted blood flow, or ischemia, and when blood flow is restored after, for example, a heart attack or a planned event such as cardiovascular surgery, angioplasty or organ transplantation. Paradoxically, restoring blood flow to ischemic tissue may induce a complex series of events leading to both reversible and irreversible tissue damage beyond any damage that may have occurred during the ischemic period.
It is believed that a significant factor in reperfusion injury is the generation of free radical molecules, which attack and damage cardiac tissue. The injury can result in a number of complications, including tissue death, depression of heart function, irregular heartbeat and in some cases, death. Corixa's synthetic chemistry program has generated a novel potential cardioprotectant, RC.552, which has demonstrated in preclinical studies to be fast acting and potent. Potential clinical applications for RC.552 cardioprotectant may include coronary artery bypass graft surgery, aortic valve replacement, angioplasty, non-cardiac surgery in high-risk patients, unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, thrombolytic therapy, stroke and other CNS injury and organ transplantation.
About Corixa
Corixa is a research- and development-based biotechnology company committed to treating and preventing autoimmune diseases, cancer and infectious diseases by understanding and directing the immune system. Corixa is focused on immunotherapeutic products and has a broad technology platform enabling both fully integrated vaccine design and the use of its separate, proprietary vaccine components on a standalone basis. Corixa currently has 16 programs in clinical development and 22 programs in preclinical development, including its most advanced product candidate, Bexxar(TM), a monoclonal antibody conjugated to a radioisotope.
The company partners with numerous developers and marketers of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, targeting products that are Powered by Corixa(TM) technology with the goal of making its potential products available to patients around the world. Corixa was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Wash., with additional operations in Hamilton, Mont. and Redwood City, Calif. and South San Francisco, Calif. For more information, please visit Corixa's website at www.corixa.com or call the company's investor relations information line at 1.877.4CORIXA or 877/426-7492.
About CoPharma
CoPharma, Inc. is an integrated pharmaceutical development organization, created to respond to the growing disparity between the large number of newly discovered drugs and the pharmaceutical industry's limited capacity to develop them. CoPharma targets development of early to mid-stage clinical compounds through in-licensing, joint ventures and novel partnership structures. CoPharma efficiently and cost-effectively advances proprietary small molecule and protein therapeutics through clinical and manufacturing development, concentrating resources on the principal value-generating step in the pharmaceutical commercialization chain. In addition to RC.552(TM), CoPharma has an anti-proliferative compound, PEN203, in Phase II testing for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma and psoriasis. CoPharma has licensed from a major Boston-based cancer research institute a cancer therapeutic, CO-501, for use in chemotherapy of breast, ovarian, colorectal, prostate and other cancers. CO-501 is targeted to enter clinical trials in 2001.
Based in Hopkinton, MA, CoPharma Inc. was founded in 1999 and has 70 employees. CoPharma operates a 65,000 sq. ft. cGMP FDA approved biomanufacturing facility for contract production of licensed and investigational biopharmaceuticals. CoPharma is privately held, and to date the company has been financed by $15 million from Ampersand Ventures, a leading venture capital firm. For further information on CoPharma and its programs, please contact, David Fanning, Chief Business Officer, CoPharma Inc. by e-mail at dfanning@copharmainc.com or by calling 508/435-8441 |
