Sanofi-Aventis inks cancer drug research deal with Exelixis

29 May 2009

French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis will pay $140 million to Exelixis, Inc, to develop two experimental cancer drugs, in a deal that could potentially yield over $1billion to the South San Francisco-based  biotechnology researcher after developmental, regulatory, and commercial milestones are achieved.

Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis signed a global license agreement with its partner South San Francisco-based Exelixis for XL147 and XL765 and an exclusive collaboration for the discovery of inhibitors of phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) for the management of solid malignancies.

In the deal Sanofi-Aventis will pay up Exelixis $140 million with a further guaranteed research funding of $21 million over three years and over several years, Exelixis has the potential to earn over $1 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

Sanofi-Aventis will have an exclusive worldwide license to XL147, an oral PI3K inhibitor, and XL765, an oral dual inhibitor of PI3K and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), both of which, are currently in phase 1 clinical trials.

Sanofi-Aventis said that it will have sole responsibility for all subsequent clinical, regulatory, manufacturing and commercial activities but Exelixis will participate in ongoing and potential future clinical trials.

Under the exclusive discovery collaboration, Sanofi-Aventis and Exelixis will combine research efforts to establish several preclinical programs related to isoform-selective inhibitors of PI3K.