Company* (Country; Symbol) | Company* (Country; Symbol) | Type/Product Area | Terms/Details (Date) |
| | |||
Abgenix Inc. | U3 Pharma AG* (Germany) | Collaboration for fully | Abgenix will use its XenoMouse and XenoMax technologies to generate and select fully human antibodies against U3 targets; both parties will conduct in vitro and in vivo studies and will have the right to develop and commercialize antibody products discovered during the collaboration; the parties will share equally in development costs and potential profits (6/12) |
Abiogen Pharma SpA* (Italy) | Philogen Srl* | Agreement for a development program on hepatitis C and tetanic | The agreement is focused on the development of therapeutic vaccines for hepatitis C and tetanus (6/27) |
Affymetrix | Immunex Corp. (now merged with Amgen Inc.; AMGN) | Agreement in which Immunex gains broad | With the technology, Immunex will monitor gene expression for use in research and development (7/11) |
Agencourt Bioscience | Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MLNM) | Nonexclusive agreement to provide genomic services to accelerate drug discovery | Agencourt will provide single-base nucleotide polymorphism discovery, SNP genotyping and single-pass sequencing services for selected projects; Millennium will retain some internal sequencing capabilities (6/3) |
Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI) | Genzyme Corp. (GENZ) | Drug discovery collaboration in which AMRI will provide libraries of natural product extracts to Genzyme for biological screening against a number of therapeutic targets | AMRI will conduct follow-up analytical and natural products chemistry; each company will bear its own costs during research (6/4) |
Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc.* | Cerylid Biosciences | Collaboration to discover anti-infective compounds | Anadys gets access to Cerylid's library of unique natural products samples derived from organisms of Australian origin; Anadys will screen the samples, and Cerylid will identify biologically active small molecules in extracts that show positive results in the screen; Anadys will advance compounds through lead optimization, as well as preclinical and clinical development (6/11) |
Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc.* | Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) | Collaboration to discover antiviral compounds using Anadys' technology and Gilead's undisclosed viral target | Anadys will employ its Atlas ultra-high- throughput screening technology to design and run assays against Gilead's compound collection; Gilead will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any resulting products; Anadys will receive an up-front payment, research and development funding, and potential milestones and royalties (6/10) |
Angiogene Pharmaceuticals Ltd.* (UK) | MediciNova Inc.* | Agreement for exclusive worldwide rights to a series of vascular targeting agents for cancer treatment | MediciNova gained the rights and will provide Angiogene with an up-front licensing payment, as well as milestone and royalty payments; MediciNova will be responsible for further development, regulatory activities and commercialization of the ANG 600 series (7/9) |
AnVil Inc.* | Applied Biosystems Group (NYSE:ABI) | Collaboration to verify the existence of dark genes predicted by computers, | AnVil will apply its technologies to tracking down unknown genes; AnVil will provide analytics knowledge in confirming methods for gene expression analysis and subsequent integration with DNA sequencing and Applied's Taqman data (6/12) |
Arius Research Inc. (Canada; CDNX:YAR) | Oxford BioMedica plc* (UK) | Collaboration to search | Arius will supply BioMedica with a range of 50 functional antitumor antibodies it has identified; BioMedica will characterize the antibodies and identify the cognate antigens by employing technologies from its gene discovery and immunotherapy programs (7/25) |
Arrow Therapeutics Ltd.* (UK) | GeneData AG* (Switzerland) | Licensing agreement to use two suites of GeneData's platform for drug discovery research: GeneData Phylosopher and GeneData Expres- sionist | Terms were not disclosed (7/9) |
Atlantic Technology Ventures Inc. (OTC BB:ATLC) | Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc.* | Licensing agreement for exclusive rights to CT-3, | Indevus will make an up-front licensing payment and pay potential milestones and royalties; Indevus is responsible for all development and commercialization activities (7/1) |
Automated Cell Inc.* | Strand Genomics Pvt. Ltd.* (India) | Bioinformatics partnership in which Strand will provide its algorithmic skill sets and software engineering skills to develop products and solutions for Automated Cell's drug discovery platform | Automated Cell's platform quantifies in vitro disease phenotypes for target prioritization and validation and lead optimization in oncology and immune diseases (6/20) |
Biacore International AB (Sweden; BCOR; SSE:BCOR) | BD Biosciences Pharmingen* (unit of Becton, Dickinson and Co.) | Research collaboration for the development of applications for Biacore's microarray chip technology | Further details were not disclosed (7/3) |
BioFocus plc | Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG* (Germany) | Drug discovery partnership that will provide kinase targets for BioFocus to design high-throughput screening assays for the targets | BioFocus will identify hit molecules and pursue lead expansion and optimization programs; Axxima will perform clinical development of lead molecules and be responsible for commercialization; Bio- Focus will receive ongoing research fees, interim success-based milestones and royalties following commercialization of any products (7/22) |
BioProtein Technologies | Eurogentec Group* (Belgium) | Alliance to produce therapeutic proteins | Eurogentec became BioProtein's partner for the downstream processing of the recombinant proteins that are produced (7/1) |
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (AMEX:BIO) | Nanogen Inc. (NGEN) | Worldwide, nonexclusive license agreement for the two most common gene mutations for the diagnosis of hereditary hemochromatosis | Bio-Rad granted Nanogen a license to the C282Y and H63D mutations of the HFE gene for use in Nanogen's NanoChip system (6/25) |
Cell Genesys Inc. (CEGE) | Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. (TKTX) | Agreement to use Cell Genesys' gene-activation technology with up to 15 therapeutic proteins | The deal is worth $26M in cash and stock; Cell Genesys gets $11M in an up-front license fee, $15M in TKT's common stock and more if patent-related mile- stones are reached (6/10) |
Chromos Molecular Systems Inc. (Canada; TSE:CHR) | Lonza Biologics plc* (UK) | Evaluation agreement where- by Lonza will evaluate Chromos' gene delivery and expression technology with its mammalian cell lines for improved expression of proteins | The one-year agreement includes an op- tion to license Chromos' ACE System for use with Lonza's GS System in cellular protein production; financial terms were not disclosed (6/10) |
Corixa Corp. (CRXA) | Medarex Inc. (MEDX) | Agreement to sell certain technology and preclinical therapeutic programs | Medarex acquired Corixa's Ultra-Potent Toxin technology, as well as the IFNAR1 program and the tumor-activated prodrug program; the deal is worth $21M, but Medarex also bought equipment for another $2.5M; the deal also included the transfer of 30 Corixa scientists to Medarex (5/24) |
Crucell NV (the Netherlands; CRXL) | Genexine Co. Ltd.* (Korea) | Licensing agreement under which Crucell's PER.C6 cell line will be used by Genexine for the research, development and manufacture of a recombinant therapeutic vaccine against hepatitis B | Genexine obtains a worldwide, nonexclusive license for the use of Crucell's cell line; the agreement includes the option for a commercial license, and Crucell will receive up-front and annual payments (7/3) |
Crucell NV (the Netherlands; CRXL) | MedImmune Inc. (MEDI) | Agreement granting an exclusive license to Crucell's human cell line, PER.C6 | MedImmune will use PER.C6 to support its influenza vaccine programs; financial details were not disclosed (5/29) |
Cytomyx plc | M-phasys AG* (Germany) | Agreement to use Cytomyx's genomics technology to provide M-phasys with more than 250 full-length genes coding for cell membrane receptors | M-phasys will then apply its M-fold refolding technology to produce membrane proteins in a purified and functional state for use in drug discovery research (6/5**) |
DeCode genetics Inc. (Iceland; DCGN) | Elitra Pharmaceuticals Inc.* | Agreement to discover and develop new antibiotics to combat drug-resistant bacteria | The companies initiated medicinal chemistry work under the alliance (7/1) |
De Novo Pharmaceuticals Ltd.* (UK) | GeneFormatics Inc.* | Collaborative drug discovery program to elucidate inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases, specifically the M10 family | GeneFormatics will use its proteomics technologies to identify all members of the M10 family in the human proteome and and characterize the structure and chemistry of active sites (7/22) |
Devgen NV* (Belgium) | Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA) | Research collaboration in which Devgen will use its C. elegans in vivo-based RNAi technology and its Function Factory tool to evaluate the function of Genentech's genes in signaling pathways | Financial terms were not disclosed (7/16) |
Diatos SA* (France) | OctoPlus Technologies BV* (the Netherlands) | Collaboration aimed at developing a universal platform for targeted intra- cellular delivery of biological molecules | Agreement brings together OctoPlus' bio- degradable polymer technologies with Diatos' peptide vector technologies; the parties will receive a total of US$2.51M in grants from the Dutch and French governments over the course of the five-year collaboration (7/22) |
Direvo Biotech AG* (Germany) | Novozymes A/S* (Denmark) | Three-year collaboration agreement under which Direvo will apply its proprietary technologies to the development of an optimized industrial enzyme | Direvo will receive research and develop- ment funding and potential milestone and royalty payments; Novozymes will obtain worldwide exclusive rights to commercialize the products developed under the collaboration (6/5) |
EGeen International Corp.* | Prediction Sciences* | Collaboration on the study and discovery of genetic variants responsible for variable patent responses to citalopram, or Celexa | EGeen will receive milestone payments and potential royalties (7/24) |
Exelixis Inc. (EXEL) | Cancer Research Ventures* (UK) | Nonexclusive licensing agreement for the rights to a pair of patent families related to transposon-based technologies | Further details were not disclosed (7/1) |
F2G Ltd.* (UK) | Genome Therapeutics Corp. (GENE) | Agreement to discover antifungal drugs | F2G will use Genome Therapeutics' in- house compound library and F2G's antifungal whole-cell assay screening capabilities to identify specific compounds with activity against human fungal pathogens (6/26) |
GenVec Inc. (GNVC) | DirectGene Inc.* | Collaboration and license agreement to develop a new class of drugs based on targeted, selectively replicating adenovectors | GenVec will get two years of funding to use its technology to develop products for DirectGene; GenVec also could receive milestone and royalty payments if any products are commercialized (7/15) |
Geron Corp. (GERN) | Variagenics Inc. (VGNX) | Nonexclusive licensing agreement relating to Geron's human telomerase reverse transcriptase technology for pharmacogenomic applications | Variagenics will use hTERT to create immortalized cell lines from a cell type suited to identifying DNA polymorphisms and haplotypes; financial details and other terms were not disclosed (7/16) |
GPC Biotech AG (Germany; FSE:GPC) | PanTherix Ltd.* (UK) | License agreement for GPC's preclinical antibacterials program | PanTherix acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to GPC's program for further development; GPC is eligible for milestone payments and royalties; GPC retains the right to clinically co-develop and co-market any resulting products and share in future profits (6/6) |
High Throughput Genomics Inc.* | Galderma Research & Development SNC* (France) | Alliance to incorporate HTG's Multiplexed Molecular Profiling ArrayPlate Kits and Omix Imager into Galderma's drug discovery process | Galderma will purchase ArrayPlate Kits from HTG and will designate genes linked to specific skin disorders for inclusion into the kits; financial terms were not disclosed (7/9) |
Iceland Genomics Corp.* (Iceland) | Myriad Genetics Inc. (MYGN) | Collaboration in which Myriad will supply genetic markers and Iceland Genomics will use them with its sample collection to help Myriad localize and identify a cancer gene | Iceland Genomics will receive research support payments, as well as milestone and royalty payments on any diagnostic or therapeutic products based on the gene (6/20) |
Immune Network Ltd. (Canada; OTC BB:IMMKF) | ViroLogic Inc. (VLGC) | Research agreement to evaluate Immune Network's monoclonal antibody, hNM01 | ViroLogic's assays will be used to evaluate the ability of hNM01 to reduce the infectivity of various strains of HIV (7/18) |
Immuno- Designed Molecules SA* (France) | Medarex Inc. (MEDX) | Joint development and supply agreement to use Medarex's MDX-010 in combination with selected IDM Cell Drugs | Financial terms were not disclosed (6/11) |
InKine Pharmaceutical Co. Inc. (INKP) | ZaBeCor Pharmaceutical Co.* | Alliance to develop various technologies related to the discoveries of Alan Schreiber of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | InKine granted ZaBeCor the exclusive right to develop, manufacture, market and sell products and technologies covered by InKine-owned patents relating to inflammatory disease; InKine received a 47.5% ownership in ZaBeCor, which will pay InKine an undisclosed royalty on net sales of all products discovered or developed by ZaBeCor or its partners; ZaBeCor is responsible for all development costs, and InKine retains rights to Colirest and Hematrol (7/15) |
Isogenica Ltd.* (UK) | Invitrogen Corp. (IVGN) | Agreement giving Invitrogen rights to use Isogenica's covalent display technology to generate molecular libraries | The deal involves development milestones and royalties (6/5**) |
Labopharm Inc. (Canada; TSE:DDS) | MedPointe Inc.* | Agreement in which Labopharm signed a letter of intent to form an agreement to develop sustained- release products | Labopharm will begin feasibility and formulation studies for which it will re- ceive an undisclosed fee; MedPointe will bear all development and commercialization costs (7/11) |
Large Scale Biology Corp. (LSBC) | Phylogix Inc.* | Bioprocessing alliance to develop and manufacture in hyacinth seeds FRIL, a therapeutic protein | The protein has demonstrated in animals an ability to protect normal tissues from the toxic side effects of chemotherapy (6/10) |
Large Scale Biology Corp. (LSBC) | StemCell Technologies Inc.* (Canada) | Collaborative agreement to jointly explore applications of LSBC's Plurigen CM stem and progenitor cell cultivation product | Further details were not disclosed (6/26) |
Lexicon Genetics Inc. (LEXG) | Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MLNM) | Nonexclusive licensing agreement related to Lexicon's patented isogenic DNA technology | Millennium will use the technology in its drug discovery and target validation programs (6/7) |
MaxCyte Inc.* | Angiogene Inc.* | Research agreement to develop a recuperative treatment for congestive heart failure caused by myocardial infarction using MaxCyte's GT cell-loading system | MaxCyte will receive an up-front payment followed by payments triggered by reaching milestones (7/10) |
Morphochem AG* (Germany) | Migragen AG* (Germany) | Collaboration to identify, optimize and produce small- molecule drug candidates through a joint discovery and development program between the companies | The collaboration initially will focus on nerve regeneration in spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury; the partners will share ownership of the molecules discovered (7/3) |
Neuronyx Inc.* | Centocor Inc. (unit of Johnson & Johnson) | Collaboration to develop cardiovascular therapies based on stem cells | The agreement involves research using adult stem cells; Centocor will ultimately assume responsibility for development and commercialization; Neuronyx will manufacture the adult bone marrow- derived cells and will receive an up-front payment and research support, as well as milestone payments based on certain regulatory events (6/26) |
Norak Biosciences Inc.* | Q3DM Inc.* | Collaboration to enable biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies involved in drug discovery to study G protein-coupled receptors in high-content modes by combining two screening technologies | The collaboration provides for continuing automation, validation and software development; financial terms were not disclosed (6/27) |
Phylos Inc.* | Upstate Biotechnology Inc.* | Collaboration on the development of Phylos' Trinectin-binding proteins as components of a protein array to be sold and marketed by Upstate | Phylos will receive research funding and, if applicable, milestone payments and royalties on the sale of the Trinectin-binding protein reagents developed (6/5) |
Protein Design Labs Inc. (PDLI) | Igeneon AG* (Austria) | Licensing agreement for HuABL 364, a humanized monoclonal antibody against the Lewis Y antigen | Igeneon gets worldwide rights to the product; PDL will receive an up-front fee along with potential milestone and royalty payments (7/11) |
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) | Amgen Inc. (AMGN) and Immunex Corp. (now merged with Amgen) | Agreement for a nonexclu- sive license to certain intellectual property rights, which may be used in the development and commercialization of Regeneron's Interleukin-1 Trap | The license would become effective upon the completion of Amgen's acquisition of Immunex, which occurred later in July (7/8) |
Sangamo BioSciences Inc. (SGMO) | Icagen Inc.* | Agreement to build an engineered cell line over-expressing a specific ion channel gene for research being conducted by Icagen | Icagen will pay an up-front fee and research funding, as well as product development milestones and royalties (7/17) |
SkyePharma plc (UK; SKYE; LSE:SKP) | GeneMedix plc (UK; LSE:GMX) | Joint agreement to develop an extended-release formulation of interferon alpha-2b using SkyePharma's DepoFoam injectable drug delivery technology | GeneMedix paid $5M up front; SkyePharma also will receive milestone payments; the companies will share in costs of further development and manufacturing, as well as in profits (7/2) |
SurroMed Inc.* | Biogen Inc. (BGEN) | Two-year collaboration to study patients with multiple sclerosis and to characterize patients' responses to Avonex | SurroMed will receive research funding, a technology access fee and could receive milestone payments; also, SurroMed would receive royalties from sales of diagnostic tests (6/20) |
Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corp. (SNAP) | Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.* (India) | Nonexclusive licensing agreement to undisclosed technology | Synaptic will get an up-front licensing fee along with potential milestone and royalty payments (7/11) |
Tanox Inc. (TNOX) | Privately held biopharmaceutical company | Nonexclusive licensing agreement to the Bak gene | The privately held company will use the gene for the development of therapeutics; Tanox will receive an up-front license fee and potential milestone and royalty payments (6/20) |
Tercica Medica Inc.* | Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA) | Licensing agreement for Genentech's rights to IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) | Genentech also granted Tercica an exclusive option to acquire rights to the combination of IGF-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3; Genentech received an ownership position in Tercica and could receive downstream payments (5/23) |
TransTech Pharma Inc.* | Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) | Multiyear collaboration to discover and develop small molecules for as many as three therapeutic targets | Cephalon gains the right to develop and commercialize all compounds directed at each of the targets; it will provide TransTech with research, clinical and commercialization milestone payments and royalties; specific financial details were not disclosed (6/21) |
U3 Pharma AG* (Germany) | Evotec OAI AG (Germany; Neuer Markt:EVT) | Agreement in which U3 Pharma will provide cell assays to Evotec | Evotec will identify drug targets and U3 will own the rights to any drug candidates (6/12**) |
Zygogen LLC* | BD Biosciences Clontech (unit of Becton, Dickinson and Co.; NYSE:BDX) | Agreement in which Zygogen selected fluorescent markers to integrate into its stable transgenic zebrafish the Reef Coral Fluorescent Proteins | Terms were not disclosed (7/1) |
ZymoGenetics | Arriva Pharmaceuticals Inc.* | Agreement that grants Arriva a worldwide license to U.S. Patent No. 5,218,091, which covers production of recombinant alpha 1- antitrypsin in yeast | Arriva intends to develop AAT for the treatment of hereditary emphysema and other respiratory and dermatological indications; Arriva will pay ZymoGenetics an initial licensing fee along with maintenance fees, milestones and royalties (5/23) |
ZymoGenetics | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) | Licensing agreement for ZymoGenetics' lg-fusion protein technology | Regeneron gains nonexclusive rights to nine ZymoGenetics U.S. patents covering immunoglobulin-fusion proteins; ZymoGenetics will receive royalties on sales of products that employ lg-fusion (6/10) |
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Notes: | |||
# This chart does not include agreements that involve agricultural product development. | |||
* Private companies are indicated with an asterisk. | |||
** Denotes the date the item ran in BioWorld International. | |||
Unless otherwise noted, the trading symbols listed for public biotechnology companies are on the Nasdaq market. | |||
AIM = Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange; AMEX = American Stock Exchange; CDNX = Canadian Venture Exchange; FSE = Frankfurt Stock Exchange; LSE = London Stock Exchange; NYSE = New York Stock Exchange; OTC BB = Over the Counter Bulletin Board; SSE = Swedish Stock Exchange; TSE = Toronto Stock Exchange | |||
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