Isis Earns $3 Million Payment as Collaboration With GSK Expands
Press Release Source: Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. On Monday May 16, 2011, 8:00 am EDT
CARLSBAD, Calif., May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISIS - News) announced today that it has earned a $3 million payment from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK - News) related to the initiation of a sixth program under its collaboration to discover and develop drugs to treat rare and infectious diseases. This expansion follows the identification of the first development candidate from the collaboration in July of last year.
"We are pleased to announce this latest development in our alliance with GSK. In just over a year into this alliance, we have identified our first development candidate, ISIS-TTRRx, which is ready to begin a Phase 1 clinical study. We look forward to achieving further success in the collaboration. Additionally, we recently received recognition from our industry peers for this collaboration by receiving the Breakthrough Alliance Award of 2011 sponsored by Deloitte Recap," said B. Lynne Parshall, Chief Operating Officer and CFO of Isis. "We and GSK are committed to working together to apply antisense technology to develop new treatments for rare and severe diseases. We benefit from GSK's expertise as we move these programs forward."
Isis entered into a strategic alliance with GSK in March 2010 to develop RNA therapeutics. With the latest $3 million payment, Isis has earned $38 million in upfront payments from GSK. Under the terms of the agreement, Isis is eligible to receive license fees and milestone payments, totaling nearly $1.5 billion, in the event all six programs are successfully developed for one or more indications and commercialized through to pre-agreed sales targets. Isis is eligible to receive on average up to $20 million in milestone payments per program up to Phase 2 proof-of-concept. GSK will have the option to license compounds at proof-of-concept and will be responsible for all further development and commercialization. In addition, Isis will receive up to double-digit royalties on sales from any product that is successfully commercialized. The alliance applies Isis' antisense drug discovery platform to discover and develop new therapeutics against targets for rare and serious diseases, including infectious diseases and some conditions causing blindness. |
