Curis Receives Extended Cancer Program Funding from Genentech
Thursday April 14, 8:30 am ET
Additional $2 million provided for extension of research and development on applications of Hedgehog pathway inhibitors to treat solid tumors
[Not much money, but at least a sign that Genentch still likes the program].
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 2005-- Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS - News), a therapeutic drug development company, today announced that it has amended its first agreement with Genentech, Inc. (NYSE: DNA - News) to extend Genentech's funding of the cancer therapeutic development collaboration that is ongoing between the two companies. An additional $2 million will be provided to support Curis personnel and other third party resources dedicated to developing Curis' Hedgehog inhibition technologies for the treatment of solid tumor cancers.
In June 2003, Curis established a collaboration with Genentech for the development of a set of technologies based on inhibition of the Hedgehog signaling pathway, including small molecule Hedgehog pathway inhibitors. Genentech's support of Curis personnel and other third-party resources dedicated to the collaboration was due to terminate in June 2005. The amended agreement provides for a six-month extension of support for Curis personnel with an option for an additional six-month extension.
Daniel Passeri, Curis' President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are very pleased that Genentech has elected to extend the funding for our collaboration on the Hedgehog pathway inhibition cancer technologies. We feel that this is validation of the valuable contribution that our scientists have made in advancing the systemic Hedgehog inhibition drug candidates towards clinical testing." |
