Henry,
Re MLNM:
Small molecule competition heating up.
biz.yahoo.com
During the five-year term of the alliance, Bayer will make a total investment in Millennium of up to $465 million. Of this, up
to $368.4 million will consist of guaranteed funding and performance fees for the drug targets identified, and a license fee
for the use of the genome technologies developed by Millennium. The remaining $96.6 million will be paid by Bayer as an
equity investment representing approximately a 14% interest in Millennium. In addition, Bayer will pay royalties to
Millennium on the sale of any marketed products.
The primary goal of the alliance is for Millennium, over a period of five years, to supply 225 important new ''drug targets''
identified as relevant for cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, pain, liver fibrosis, hematology and viral infections.
From those identified by the alliance, Bayer will select drug targets for its exclusive use; the remainder will be available to
Millennium to use in its own proprietary drug development efforts.
''Drug targets'' are proteins expressed by human genes which can be used to discover and develop small molecule drugs. In
the past 100 years of pharmaceutical research, some 400 drug targets based on human genes (of which there are
approximately 100,000) have been identified worldwide for use in the development of medical therapies, leaving a
considerable number of potential targets still to be discovered.
J.D. |
