Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) announced that it has earned a $10 million milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY).
BMY is making the payment purusant to a collaboration agreement between the companies. And their joint research focused on compounds targeting retinoic acid-related orphan receptor (ROR). This is a family of nuclear hormone receptors implicated in inflammatory conditions.
Hence, the milestone payment became due when Bristol-Myers Squibb filed a Clinical Trial Authorization in Europe for a first-in-human study of a RORγt inverse agonist.
“Most of all, Exelixis focuses on #oncology. However, our legacy of drug discovery across diverse therapeutic areas lives on through our collaborations with our partners. Hence, this research includes the RORγt inverse agonist program which Bristol-Myers Squibb is now advancing.” This according to Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Exelixis. “We congratulate Bristol-Myers Squibb on its plans for a first-in-human study.”
From October 2010 to July 2013, Exelixis and Bristol-Myers Squibb engaged in collaborative research around RORγt. In addition, this included the discovery, optimization, and characterization of RORγt inverse agonists. Furthermore, Bristol-Myers Squibb would develope and commercialize the results. As a result, since the end of the collaborative research period Bristol-Myers Squibb has undertaken all further research, development and manufacture. Most noteworthy, Bristol-Myers Squibb would advance potential commercialization of compounds developed under the collaboration.
