Curis Announces Expansion of Relationship with Centocor Research & Development, Inc.
Thursday December 15, 2:07 pm ET
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2005--Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS - News), a therapeutic drug development company, today announced that Centocor has expanded its relationship with Curis. Under the revised agreement, Curis will screen for small molecule agonists that mimic the bioactivity of BMP-7 and activate the bone morphogenetic ("BMP") pathway. At Centocor's request, Curis will also use its proprietary screening assays to further test and validate any newly discovered Centocor BMP-7 protein and peptide variants in support of Centocor's effort to find next generation protein therapeutics. Both efforts represent an expansion of Curis' current relationship with Centocor. Currently, Centocor has licensed the BMP-7 protein and related patent portfolio from Curis and is developing this protein as a therapeutic agent.
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Under terms of the agreement, Centocor will fund two FTE's and Curis will fund two FTE's for the screening effort. The screening effort is expected to last fifteen months. Curis will own any small molecule BMP agonist compounds that are discovered as part of this screening; however, Centocor will have an exclusive option to enter into a new collaboration and exclusive license agreement for the development of the small molecules.
"Curis has a significant track record of expanding and extending its relationships with its collaborators. The type of partnerships that we put in place with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies allow Curis to gain significant, useful knowledge about clinical trials and to be less reliant on the capital markets," said Daniel R. Passeri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Curis, Inc. "We are pleased by Centocor's continued commitment to this program and we are hopeful that this screening effort could produce a viable lead candidate for use in an eventual clinical trial."
About the Centocor Research and Development Inc., Agreement
Centocor has 45 days after completion of the screening program to notify Curis that it intends to exercise its option to license. If Centocor exercises the option and elects to continue the collaboration with Curis, the Parties will, in good faith, negotiate a collaboration and exclusive license agreement for subsequent development and commercialization of the Curis small molecule agonists on commercially reasonable terms. If the Parties fail to sign an agreement within three months of Centocor's exercise of the Option, then Curis has the right to negotiate a development and commercialization agreement with third parties.
In November 2002, Curis licensed its broad BMP technology portfolio to Ortho Biotech Products on an exclusive, worldwide royalty-bearing basis, for all non-orthopedic and non-dental therapeutic indications.
About Curis, Inc.
Curis, Inc. is a therapeutic drug development company. The Company's technology focus is on regulatory pathways that control repair and regeneration. Curis' product development involves the use of proteins or small molecules to modulate these pathways. Curis has successfully used this technology and product development approach to produce several promising drug product candidates in the fields of cancer (under two collaborations with Genentech, one of which includes a co-development arrangement for a basal cell carcinoma product candidate that is currently in Phase I clinical trials), neurological disorders (under collaboration with Wyeth), hair growth (under collaboration with Procter & Gamble), kidney and other diseases (licensed to Ortho Biotech Products and under development at Centocor, both subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson), and cardiovascular disease. Curis also possesses robust small molecule drug screening technologies and preclinical scientific expertise that Curis believes it can use to create a sustainable drug candidate pipeline including, for example, its efforts in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (under sponsored research agreement with the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation). For more information, please visit the Curis web site at www.curis.com. |
