Arvinas LLC, a private biotechnology company creating a new class of drugs based on protein degradation, announced it has expanded its ongoing license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, for the development of new therapeutics using Arvinas’ novel PROTAC technology. The multi-year strategic license agreement, initiated in October 2015, will encompass additional disease targets and expand the collaboration.
Under the revised terms of the agreement, Arvinas is eligible to receive development and commercialization milestone payments in excess of $650 million based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones. In addition, Arvinas is eligible to receive tiered-royalties on sales of products resulting from the license agreement. Full financial terms have not been disclosed.
“Genentech’s decision to expand our original agreement to include additional disease targets shows the promise seen in our first two years together and further supports our targeted protein degradation platform as a novel drug modality to treat a broad array of diseases,” said John Houston, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Arvinas. “This expansion also supports our initial decision to work with Genentech in 2015 and we look forward to this growing collaboration.”
The PROTAC Platform offers potential improvements over traditional small molecule inhibitors using the ubiquitin and proteasome system within a cell to degrade disease causing proteins. By removing target proteins directly rather than inhibiting them, PROTACs can provide multiple advantages over small molecule inhibitors, which can require high systemic exposure to achieve sufficient inhibition, often resulting in toxic side effects and eventual drug resistance.
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
