REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Maxygen, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAXY - News) today announced that it received notice from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. ("Roche") that, effective April 12, 2007, Roche will terminate its Co-Development and Commercialization Agreement with Maxygen relating to Maxygen's pre-clinical stage MAXY-VII program. Under the terms of the agreement, Roche and Maxygen had been pursuing the development and commercialization of MAXY-VII, a next-generation Factor VII, for acute bleeding indications. Upon termination of the agreement, all rights to the MAXY-VII product candidates revert back to Maxygen.
Roche indicated that it was terminating the agreement based on the inability of the parties to establish an animal model intended to provide pre-clinical de-risking of the program.
"We are disappointed with Roche's decision to terminate their involvement in the Factor VII program" said Russell Howard, Maxygen's Chief Execute Officer, "Treatment options for acute bleeding conditions, such as trauma, are clearly needed. We plan to evaluate the situation carefully before determining the next steps for our MAXY-VII program."
The agreement between Maxygen and Roche relating to the development and commercialization of Maxygen's MAXY-alpha product candidates for the treatment of hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus infections is not impacted by this decision, and the parties continue this promising partnership entered into in 2003. |
