Print“If the pharmas can't do this work internally they must reach out to companies that can do it for them.”
Janssen Biotech will use Metamark Genetics’ gene marker discovery platform to identify and learn to exploit proprietary cancer targets as part of new licensing deal forged with an undisclosed upfront payment.
Under the terms of the joint research, collaboration, and license agreement, Janssen could pay Metamark as much as $365 million in milestone payments across multiple targets, based upon the achievement of specified development, regulatory, and commercialization goals.
In addition, Metamark will be entitled to royalties on worldwide net sales of therapeutics and any associated companion diagnostics Janssen commercializes.
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly realizing that early biomarker development will be essential to the long-term success of their drug programs, says Scott Allocco, President of BioMarker Strategies, a tissue-based cancer diagnostics company. “If the pharmas can't do this work internally,” he says, “they must reach out to companies that can do it for them.”
Janssen says it will use Metamark’s discovery platform for the identification and characterization of “Prognosis Determinants,” specific proprietary cancer targets demonstrated to play a causal role in promoting tumor progression and spread.
The deal is the second oncology partnership formed in December by Janssen Biotech, which is part of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies. In the first deal, Janssen made a $150 million upfront payment to Pharmacyclics to jointly develop and market PCI-32765, an early stage therapy in clinical testing to fight B-cell malignancy disorders, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
December 22, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-metamark_and_janssen_partner_on_cancer.html
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