Dive Brief:
- Amgen inked a multi-target deal with Stockholm-based Nuevolution to develop and commercialize compounds in the areas of oncology and neuroscience.
- While most of the financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed, Nuevolution is eligible for up to $410 million in research, development and commercial milestones per target.
- Amgen has the first right to option the drugs and will pay an undisclosed upfront fee upon exercising the license. Should any of the programs reach the market, Nuevolution is eligible for royalty payments.
Dive Insight:
The partnership is nothing new for the companies, both of which have been active on the deal front over the past few years. Nuevolution announced a similar deal in Jan. 2014 that allowed Novartis to use its technology platform to research drugs of interest to the Swiss biopharma. Earlier this year, Nuevolution raked in $2 million in milestone payments from the deal.
Amgen, meanwhile, has been hungry to improve its immuno-oncology and neuroscience offerings. The company struck a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim in September to acquire rights to develop and sell the multiple myeloma drug BI 836908 (AMG 420). A year earlier, Amgen agreed to co-produce and market drugs targeting Alzheimer’s disease and migraines in a partnership with Novartis.
In its most recent deal, Nuevolution will be in charge of early development while Amgen will take over once drugs hit the preclinical stage. Amgen will also maintain sole control of commercialization.
According to Amgen’s senior vice president of discovery research Alexander Kamb, the Chemetics platform, which uses high throughput techniques to produces billions of drug-like molecules, makes identifying small molecule compounds for targets easier.
"DNA-encoded screening platforms such as Nuevolution’s allows for rapid screening of billions of compounds to help bring important therapies to the clinic faster and with increased precision," Kamb said in an Oct. 4 statement from Nuevolution.
The deal comes as researchers anticipate continued growth in the oncology and neuroscience spaces. Recent reports—one from IMS Health and one from Grand View Research—project global markets for the spaces reaching $150 billion and $30.8 billion, respectively, by 2020.