As the biotechnology industry gathered in Chicago for its annual international convention, AstraZeneca used the occasion to announce two discovery deals and one pre-clinical deal. But the agreements come as the company also announced a 12 percent decline in sales in the first quarter as it faces greater competition from generic drugs for Seroquel IR and Atacand in many markets, and for Crestor in Canada.

AstraZeneca said it entered into a strategic collaboration with BIND Therapeutics to develop and commercialize a targeted and programmable cancer nanomedicine from BIND’s technology platform based on a targeted kinase inhibitor developed and owned by AstraZeneca.

BIND is developing a new class of therapeutics called “Accurins,” which it says has superior target selectivity and the potential to improve patient outcomes in the areas of oncology, inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular disorders. It says it develops Accurins that outperform conventional drugs by selectively accumulating in diseased tissues and cells. The result is higher drug concentrations at the site of action with minimal off-target exposure, leading to markedly better efficacy and safety.

The collaboration is based on emerging data suggesting that nanomedicines like Accurins do selectively accumulate in diseased tissues and cells, leading to higher drug concentrations at the site of the tumor and reduced exposure to healthy tissues.

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will collaborate on preclinical studies of the lead Accurin, identified from a previously-completed feasibility program. AstraZeneca will then have exclusive development and commercialization rights, while BIND will lead manufacturing during the development phase. BIND could receive upfront and pre-approval milestone payments totaling $69 million, and more than $130 million in regulatory and sales milestones and other payments as well as tiered single to double-digit royalties on future sales.

BIND started several feasibility projects with major pharmaceutical companies a year ago. Its collaboration with AstraZeneca is the first one completed, according to BIND CEO Scott Minick.

AstraZeneca also entered into an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Horizon Discovery to explore its first-in-class kinase target program to develop new cancer therapies based on modulation of a novel kinase. The company said the target has been shown to be mutated in a range of cancer types including colon and lung and has also been shown to play a key role in K-Ras mutant tumors. These mutant tumors, involved in about 40 percent of all cancer types, cause resistance to many available therapies and are associated with poor patient outcomes.

Under the terms of the agreement, Horizon will receive undisclosed upfront and preclinical milestone payments, and is eligible for milestones totaling up to $75 million, as well as tiered royalties.

Separately, AstraZeneca said it entered into a multi-target drug discovery collaboration with Alchemia. AstraZeneca will use Alchemia’s platform technology to discover and develop small molecule drugs against multiple targets to treat diseases across a variety of therapeutic areas including oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolism, infection, and neuroscience.

Under the terms of this agreement, Alchemia will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible for potential preclinical, clinical and commercial launch milestones payments totaling up to $240 million, as well as a single digit royalty.

Though the deals together provide access to promising technology to help AstraZeneca build out its early-stage pipeline, they do little to help the company with its more immediate problem of replacing revenue lost to generic competitors as patents expire on its blockbusters. Its cholesterol-fighting drug Crestor is feeling generic competition in Canada and pricing pressure elsewhere. And its heartburn drug Nexium will lose patent protection next year.