Incyte’s Novartis cancer drug deal could be worth $1bn
pharmafile | December 1, 2009 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Incyte, NovartisÂ
Novartis has paid Incyte Corporation $150 million up front for the rights to two oral investigational hematology-oncology therapies.
The first is a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, INCB18424, in phase III development to treat life-threatening blood disorder myelofibrosis.
The other is an early-stage mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor kinase (cMET) inhibitor, called INCB28060, which could combat drug resistance in cancers such as gastric, kidney and lung.
Delaware-based Incyte will receive a milestone payment of $60 million for starting the European phase III trial of the JAK inhibitor in July this year.
Novartis receives commercialisation rights outside the US for this drug and global rights for the cMET inhibitor.
David Epstein, chief executive of Novartis Oncology and Novartis Molecular Diagnostics, said the agreement “leverages these two promising investigational drugs with Novartis Oncology’s global development and commercialisation expertise”.
Each company will be responsible for costs in their respective areas for the JAK inhibitor, with those of their collaborative work to be shared equally.
Novartis is to handle everything for the cMET inhibitor after the phase I trial, although Incyte has an option to co-promote it in the US and help with global development.
The firm could also be eligible for additional cash of up to $1.1 billion if all its milestones are hit, plus double-digit royalty payments on future sales outside the US.
Incyte president Paul Friedman said the deal #quot;puts us in a strong position to transition Incyte into a successful commercial company with sufficient resources to continue to advance other promising compounds in our pipeline#quot;.
Its pipeline includes candidates to treat type II diabetes, breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
Myelofibrosis is a neoplastic condition characterised by bone marrow failure and splenic enlargement due to the production of blood cells in the spleen.
This may be because the patient’s JAK pathway becomes overactive, but there is, as yet, no effective treatment.
This class of cMET inhibitors block the molecular signals that lead to tumour cell angiogenesis and metastasis.
It is thought that Incyte’s cMET inhibitor may help overcome resistance to some targeted therapies, such as gefitinib (AstraZeneca’s Iressa) in non-small cell lung cancer.
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