Corixa and Wyeth Lederle Vaccines Amend Agreement to Include Corixa's Ribi-529 Adjuvant and New Disease Fields
SEATTLE & RADNOR, Pa.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 29, 2001--Corixa Corporation (Nasdaq:CRXA - news), a developer of immunotherapeutics, and Wyeth Lederle Vaccines, a business unit of American Home Products Corporation (NYSE:AHP - news), today announced the companies have amended their existing MPL® adjuvant license agreement to include Corixa's Ribi-529(TM) adjuvant, as well as newly-added disease fields.
The agreement grants Wyeth Lederle Vaccines the right to include Corixa's Ribi-529 adjuvant in vaccines to prevent or treat a variety of diseases, including certain infectious diseases and one autoimmune disease. Under the restated agreement, Corixa also continues to grant Wyeth Lederle the right to include Corixa's MPL adjuvant in vaccines in several of these disease areas.
Depending on the intended use, the license grant to Wyeth Lederle is either co-exclusive or non-exclusive. As a part of the agreement, Corixa will supply Wyeth Lederle with Ribi-529 adjuvant and MPL adjuvant in exchange for an undisclosed transfer price. Under the terms of the agreement, Corixa will receive license fees, annual license and minimum royalty payments, as well as royalties based on product sales. Further financial details were not disclosed by either company.
``We are pleased to expand the treatment focus of our current partnership with Wyeth Lederle to now include our Ribi-529 adjuvant,'' says Steven Gillis, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer at Corixa. ``This agreement demonstrates a continued commercial interest in Corixa's expanding adjuvant portfolio and the extensive potential applications of these adjuvants. This expanded collaboration with Wyeth Lederle illustrates our success in increasing the potential development of products powered by Corixa technologies.''
Corixa's Ribi-529 adjuvant is an aminoalkyl glucosamine 4-phosphate molecule (AGP) that has demonstrated potent immunostimulatory activities in vaccine studies in animals. In addition, when delivered intranasally, Ribi-529 adjuvant induces both mucosal and systemic immunity. Strong immune responses have been elicited to a variety of vaccine preparations by co-administration with Ribi-529 adjuvant. Ribi-529 adjuvant is currently in a Phase III clinical trial as an adjuvant for hepatitis B vaccine in Argentina... |
