On January 8, 2018 Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FPRX), a biotechnology company discovering and developing innovative immuno-oncology protein therapeutics, reported that it has achieved a milestone for the first Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) (NYSE:BMY) for a therapeutic candidate under the immune checkpoint pathway discovery collaboration between the companies (Press release, Five Prime Therapeutics, JAN 8, 2018, View Source [SID1234522980]). The first clinical candidate from the collaboration is a fully-human monoclonal antibody targeting TIM-3 (T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-3), an immune checkpoint receptor that is known to limit the duration and magnitude of T-cell responses1. This first IND application triggers a $5 million milestone payment to Five Prime.
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
"We are excited to see Bristol-Myers Squibb file an IND for the first innovative immuno-oncology therapeutic candidate to advance to the clinic under our immuno-oncology discovery collaboration," said Bryan Irving, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Research at Five Prime. "TIM-3 is thought to inhibit the response of T cells and other crucial immune cell types, so blocking this checkpoint pathway could be a promising component of an immuno-oncology strategy to treat a variety of tumors."
Under the terms of the discovery collaboration agreement, BMS has exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize products directed toward certain protein targets in three checkpoint pathways. Five Prime is eligible to receive up to $300 million in future development, regulatory and sales-based milestone payments for each collaboration target, including TIM-3. Five Prime is also eligible to receive tiered royalties starting from mid-single-digit increasing to low-double-digit percentages of global net sales of each product commercialized by BMS.
In addition, BMS has exercised its option to further extend the research term of the collaboration between the companies for the discovery, development and commercialization of immuno-oncology (I-O) therapies directed toward targets in two additional undisclosed immune checkpoint pathways. BMS has elected to extend the research term to March 2019 and will provide additional funding to Five Prime for the extended term. This is the second extension to the original collaboration term under the agreement that was established in March 2014.
BMS will continue to utilize Five Prime’s discovery capabilities to advance the immune checkpoint programs, including to identify and select drug candidates for preclinical development. Drug candidates developed against targets in these pathways may be studied either as single agents or in combination with approved BMS immuno-oncology therapies or others in development.