AstraZeneca signs $200m nanomedicine deal
pharmafile | April 23, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, bind therapeutics, nanomedicine
AstraZeneca has signed an agreement to develop and commercialise a cancer nanomedicine from US firm Bind Therapeutics’ stable of Accurins.
Such therapeutics are thought to be better than conventional drugs because they selectively accumulate in diseased tissues and cells of patients with cancers, inflammatory diseases or cardiovascular disorders.
It is the third such deal that Bind - which AstraZeneca regards as a leading company in the field – has made this year, following similar tie-ups with Pfizer earlier this month and Amgen in January.
The firms believe Bind’s products will help give them the edge in the search for increasingly personalised medicines: the latest deal concentrates on completing studies leading to approval of an Accurin based on a molecularly-targeted kinase inhibitor, developed and owned by AstraZeneca.
Bind is in line to get upfront and pre-approval payments of $69 million, and more than $130 million in regulatory and sales milestones and other payments in addition to potential double-digit royalties.
The two companies have already carried out a feasibility study, the first one Bind has completed out of a programme it began with several pharma firms a year ago.
“Due to the advanced nature of this programme, we now plan to move an Accurin with optimised therapeutic properties quickly into product development,” said Bind chief executive Scott Minick.
If successful, AstraZeneca would have exclusive rights, with Bind leading manufacturing during the development phase.
Bind, based in Cambridge, Massachussetts, has certainly been making full use of its proprietary Medicinal Nanoengineering platform.
Earlier this month the company announced that it would receive $50 million upfront from Pfizer in a deal involving several Accurins, plus a possible $160 million for each one commercialised. Similar numbers are involved in the Amgen deal, announced in January.
“AstraZeneca believes that targeted therapies which specifically address the underlying mechanisms of disease are the future of personalised cancer treatment,” said Susan Galbraith, head of AstraZeneca’s oncology innovative medicines unit.
“Our oncology teams are actively exploring a range of platforms to deliver targeted therapies, with a strategic focus on unlocking the significant potential of nanoparticles in cancer treatment,” she added.
Bind’s Accurins pipeline contains BIND-014, which is currently entering Phase II testing in cancer patients and is designed to selectively target PSMA, a surface protein upregulated in a broad range of solid tumours.
The company’s proprietary technology stemmed from the work of two nanomedicine experts, Professors Robert Langer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Omid Farokhzad of Harvard Medical School.
Adam Hill
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