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Dyax and AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that Dyax has granted AVEO a non-exclusive license to Dyax's proprietary antibody phage display libraries for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies
CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA | July 22, 2008 | Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ: DYAX) and AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that Dyax has granted AVEO a non-exclusive license to Dyax's proprietary antibody phage display libraries for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies. Dyax's human antibody phage libraries combine gene fragments from human donors with strategically designed synthetic DNA, and are used to identify high-affinity human antibodies that bind to numerous therapeutic targets, including cell surface proteins such as tumor cell markers, viral antigens, enzymes, and glycoproteins.
"Dyax's phage display technology is a powerful and proven platform for rapidly generating human antibodies, a therapeutic approach with realized potential," remarked Tuan Ha-Ngoc, President and Chief Executive Officer of AVEO. "Access to Dyax's state-of-the-art antibody phage display libraries will further strengthen AVEO's novel antibody drug discovery and translational research capabilities. This technology will be instrumental as AVEO continues to develop its maturing pipeline of more than 10 programs dedicated to the delivery of novel, high-quality oncology antibody drug candidates."
The terms of this strategic agreement include upfront and annual license fees, clinical and regulatory milestone payments as well as other considerations. Dyax is also entitled to royalties on net sales of any products identified by AVEO using Dyax's technology that may be developed and commercialized by AVEO and/or its sublicenses. The agreement also provides AVEO with sublicenses to relevant third-party antibody phage display patents related to Dyax's technology.
"We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with AVEO, a pioneering company in the area of cancer therapeutics," commented Henry E. Blair, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dyax. "The innovative structure of this agreement is another example of our strategy to expand our licensed antibody pipeline through a wide variety of strategic partnerships and collaborations."
About Dyax
Dyax is focused on advancing novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs, with an emphasis in oncology and inflammation. Dyax utilizes its proprietary drug discovery technology, phage display, to identify antibody, small protein and peptide compounds. Dyax, on its own or with its partners, has advanced several product candidates from discovery and lead validation into preclinical and clinical development. The Company's lead product candidate, DX-88, is a recombinant small protein that is being developed by Dyax for its therapeutic potential for treating hereditary angioedema (HAE). DX-88 has orphan drug designation in the U.S. and E.U., as well as Fast Track designation in the U.S., for the treatment of acute HAE attacks. In April 2008, Dyax licensed to Cubist Pharmaceuticals the intravenous formulation of DX-88 for surgical indications in North America and Europe. In addition to using phage display for its internal pipeline, Dyax leverages this technology broadly into revenue generating licenses and collaborations through its Licensing and Funded Research Program (LFRP). Under a 2006 funding arrangement with Paul Royalty Fund II, Dyax received a $30 million upfront cash payment in exchange for granting Paul Royalty the right to receive a specified percentage of the net royalties, including all milestones fees and other payments, receivable by Dyax under the LFRP through 2017. Dyax is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information about Dyax Corp., please visit www.dyax.com.
About AVEO Pharmaceuticals
AVEO is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel, targeted cancer therapeutics. AVEO's proprietary, integrated cancer biology platform enables the company to pursue highly efficient drug development strategies in oncology that increase the probability of clinical success and provides a discovery engine for high-value targets. This approach has resulted in a balanced pipeline of novel cancer therapies focused on well-validated targets (VEGFR, EGFR) and promising novel targets (HGF, FGFR), as well as collaborations with Eli Lilly, Merck, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Schering-Plough. Through a combination of internal drug discovery and selective in-licensing of targeted therapeutics, AVEO is building a diversified product pipeline and moving toward its vision of becoming a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.aveopharma.com.
SOURCE: Dyax Corp. |
