Celgene Announces Acquisition Of Global Rights To Agios Blood Cancer Drugs
Celgene has announced that it has exercised its option to obtain an exclusive license to Agios blood cancer drugs. In particular, Celgene would gain the worldwide development and commercialization rights to AG-221. AG-221 is taken orally, and is classified as a potent inhibitor of the mutant IDH2 protein. Agios has also announced the move, stating that the company will continue to complete early clinical development and regulatory compliances on the AG-221 leukemia drug compound as it is developed.
The drug is being developed by Agios in collaboration with Celgene. Under the terms of a previous agreement, Celgene is responsible for all of AG-221’s developmental costs. Celgene had a variety of options to choose from in the licensing process and could have licensed AG-221 through the end of a Phase I dose escalation study in patients afflicted by a IDH2 mutation with advanced hematologic malignancies, such as acute myeloid leukemia. Celgene’s decision to take action before the Phase I trial results presented at the June 19th Congress of the European Hematology Association suggests that Celgene was pleased with the development of the drug.
Thomas Daniel, MD, and president of research and early development at Celgene, released a statement on the move. “The emerging Phase I clinical data validate the preclinical and mechanistic work on IDH2 mutations in AML, and most importantly, advance a highly promising drug candidate for treatment of molecularly selected patients,” said Daniel. “Celgene looks forward to deploying our worldwide development capabilities in hematological malignancies and to working with Agios to accelerate development.”
Under the agreement with Celgene, Agios can receive up to $120 million in milestone payments in addition to royalties on future sales of the drug. In 2010, Agios received a $130 million upfront payment from Celgene as an investment, with Celgene able to choose which drugs it wanted to further develop.