Biogen Idec Shells Out $10 M Milestone To Isis For New Investigational Drug R&D
By Lori Clapper
Biogen Idec paid Isis Pharmaceuticals a $10 million milestone payment after the launch of studies to support an Investigation New Drug application (IND) for its neurodegenerative disease treatment, ISIS-BIIB3Rx.
ISIS-BIIB3Rx is the third drug Isis developed in partnership with Biogen Idec. As research advances, Isis could earn up to $215 million more in milestone payments, along with the license fee. Isis also stands to make a good chunk of change from the drug’s royalties should Biogen Idec choose to exercise its option to exclusively license ISIS-BII3 Rx.
C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., SVP of research at Isis Pharmaceuticals commented that their partnership has “allowed us to significantly expand the application of our technology to discover and develop drugs to treat patients with neurological diseases. Our neurological disease franchise has grown to four drugs in less than two years.”
He added that Isis has been able to rapidly create a franchise of novel drugs to treat neurological disease, thanks to the efficiency of the company’s antisense technology.
This particular partnership combines Isis' expertise in antisense technology to evaluate potential neurological targets and discover antisense drugs with Biogen Idec's capability to develop therapies for neurological disorders.
Isis' lead product, Kynamro, is currently available globally for the treatment of patients with homozygous FH, a genetic disorder characterized by high cholesterol levels, specifically very high levels of low-density lipoprotein (or "bad cholesterol"), in the blood and early cardiovascular disease. Isis also has numerous drugs in Phase 3 development in severe and rare and cardiovascular diseases, including ISIS-TTRRx — part of a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline — that is indicated for patients with the polyneuropathy form of TTR amyloidosis.
In another Biogen Idec venture, Isis is developing ISIS-SMNRx to treat infants and children with spinal muscular atrophy, a severe and rare neuromuscular disease.