NEWS OF THE WEEK PHARMACEUTICALS
AVENTIS, AMGEN INK PRICEY DEALS Licensing remains a key strategy in the race to stoke pipelines
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VENTIS AND AMGEN SIGNED
separate drug licensing agreements last week that call attention to the pharmaceutical industry's continued reliance on acquisition as a means to bolster sagging product pipelines—and to the high prices big drug companies are willing to pay for the rights to candidates in early clinical trials. Cortisone The deals, with potential values of up to half a 11J3-HSD1 11(3-HSD2 billion dollars each, also indicate the growing role played by small, specialized biotechnology companies in drug discovery and development, industry watchers say Aventis has agreed to Cortisol pay $125 million up front I N H I B I T E D Biovitrum and up to a total of $510 drug reduces Cortisol million in milestone and levels other payments to license Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' lead antiangiogenesis compound, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Trap. The compound is currently in SCIENCE
Phase I clinical trials for treatment of solid tumor malignancies and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Amgen has agreed to pay $86.5 million upfront,with potential total payments of a reported $400 million, for the rights to Biovitrum's small-molecule 11(3-HSD1 enzyme inhibitors for the treatment of metabolic diseases and other disorders. The agreement's most advanced compound, BVT3498, is currently in Phase II clinical trials for type 2 diabetes. Regeneron's VEGF Trap is a protein developed to block angiogenesis, the abnormal blood vessel growth that is necessary to sustain the development of tumors. Angiogenesis can also occur in the eye, and is a leading cause of blindnessfromsuch diseases as diabetes and macular degeneration. Aventis claims preclinical evidence indicates that VEGF Trap has a higher bonding affinity than other VEGF antagonists under development. The company sees it as an important addition to its portfolio of oncology treatments, which includes Taxotere (doce-
taxel) for breast and small-cell lung cancer and Campto (irinotecan) for advanced colon cancer. "This is a highly significant partnership for Aventis as a blockage of VEG is at the leading edge of innovative, targeted cancer therapy," says Frank L. Douglas, executive vice president for drug innovation and approval at Aventis. Similarly, Amgen sees Biovitrum's work at the vanguard in treating diabetes through inhibition of the 11|3-HSD1 enzyme. The company claims BVT3498 is potentially safer and more effective than drugs like GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia, BristolMyers Squibb's Glucophage, and Actos from Eli Lilly andTakeda. Drug industry patent attorney Jeffrey Hsi, a partner with Fish & Richardson, says the deals reflect big pharma's interest in small companies that are starting to move promising candidates into clinical trials. He adds that biopharmaceutical major Amgen's ambition to develop into a "fullfledged pharmaceutical company" is well served by the acquisition of a promising small-molecule drug. According to Hsi, the high prices agreed to by Aventis and Amgen are no surprise. "It's always what the market will bear," he says. "Clearly if these drugs go to market, they will earn it all back."—RICK MULLIN
POLICY
Leaders Set Stage For Discussions Of Science, Technology, Society
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ecause they say the benefits of 20th-century progress in science and technology have not been shared equitably around the world, a group of leaders in science and other fields will hold a "Science & Technology for Society Forum" (STS Forum) on Nov. U-16, 2004, in Kyoto, Japan. The forum was announced at a press briefing in Washington, D.C., last week by National Academy of Sciences President Bruce M. Alberts and Japan Minister of Science & Technology Policy Hiroyuki Hosoda. Alberts and Hosoda are two of the STS Forum's more than 50 founding members from some 13 countries and international organizations. They say they hope to create a unique platform for
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C & E N / S E P T E M B E R 1 5, 2003
discussion, at the global level, of 21st-century science and technology issues. They aim to include in the talks academics and researchers along with legislators and business and opinion leaders. Specific topics under consideration for the first forum, Alberts said, include global warming, safety and terrorism, human cloning and related bioethics issues, and the control of infectious diseases. Participation will be by invitation only, he said, and the plan is to hold the forum on an annual basis in Japan. A written statement from STS Forum planners says they want an informal atmosphere of open discussion. Participants "would be encouraged to work together following the forum to generate useful activities or policy proposals."—WILLIAM SCHULZ
HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
