Merck signs anticoagulant collaboration
pharmafile | July 17, 2009 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |Â Â Merck, cvÂ
Merck has continued the trend of big pharma companies signing on the dotted line with small biotech outfits in a bid to discover new moneyspinners.
The manufacturer has entered a global collaboration and licence agreement for the development of Portola Pharmaceuticals' anticoagulant betrixaban.
The investigational oral Factor Xa inhibitor is currently in phase II clinical development for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Earlier this year, Merck announced a tie-up with Vancouver-based Cardiome Pharma to develop its own new treatment for atrial fibrillation, vernakalant.
"Betrixaban represents an important addition to our late-stage portfolio with the potential to be a significant medicine in the Factor Xa inhibitor class," said Merck Research Laboratories head Luciano Rossetti.
"This agreement reinforces Merck's focus on developing an innovative portfolio of products for the treatment and management of multiple aspects of cardiovascular disease."
Merck will pay Portola an initial fee of $50 million, with the San Francisco-based company then in line for up to $420 million plus royalties upon achievement of the usual approval, regulatory and commercial milestones.
Merck will absorb development and marketing costs, including footing the bill for phase III clinical trials.
Portola may co-fund these in return for additional royalties and the chance to co-promote betrixaban with Merck in the US.
"This represents a significant milestone for the company and we now have over $175 million in cash to further advance the rest of our valuable proprietary pipeline," said Charles Homcy, Portola's president and chief executive.
Portola already has form with large pharma groups: elinogrel, its P2Y12 ADP receptor antagonist – a potential competitor for Sanofi-Aventis' blockbuster blood-thinner Plavix – is currently licensed to Novartis.
Elsewhere in the oral Factor Xa inhibitor class, Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb's own novel drug – apixaban – is also being studied in patients with atrial fibrillation.
But it suffered a setback in trials against venous thromboembolism last autumn when a phase III study failed to reach its primary endpoint and a US filing for approval is not expected until 2010 at the earliest.
Other drugs in the anti-thrombosis market include warfarin, Boehringer Ingelheim's Pradaxa and Sanofi-Aventis' Clexane, and they could be joined by Bayer's Xarelto, which is also due to be studied in stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation.
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