Sunesis Receives a $4M Payment
Sunesis to Host Conference Call Today, April 5th at 10:00 AM
Eastern Time
Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company and Sunesis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNSS) today announced a license
agreement for the development of Sunesis' oral, selective pan-Raf
kinase inhibitor and one additional undisclosed kinase inhibitor
program in oncology.
These programs were part of Sunesis' 2004 multi-kinase inhibitor
collaboration with Biogen Idec. Following Biogen Idec's November
2010 announcement to focus on neurology and spin out or outlicense
its oncology assets, Millennium acquired two of these oncology
assets and will continue the development of these in collaboration
with Sunesis. Biogen Idec and Sunesis are continuing a separate
collaboration focused on a unique preclinical kinase inhibitor
program involved in immunology.
"We are very excited to be working with Millennium, a company
that focuses on developing first-in-class and best-in-class
oncology compounds," stated Daniel Swisher, Chief Executive Officer
of Sunesis. "We look forward to Millennium's transition of the
pan-Raf kinase investigational agent into clinical studies, while
we continue to focus our resources and attention on our ongoing
Phase 3 VALOR trial for vosaroxin in AML."
"These kinase inhibitor programs represent an important addition
to our portfolio and reflect our strategy to develop novel oncology
therapies by targeting the underlying pathways of the disease
process," said Nancy Simonian, M.D., Chief Medical Officer,
Millennium. "In addition, the Raf kinase inhibitor investigational
agent offers a compelling development opportunity as it targets a
clinically validated pathway. We look forward to building on the
strong preclinical dataset as we advance this program into clinical
trials."
Non-clinical data from the oral and selective pan-Raf inhibitor
were presented at the EORTC-NCI-AACR meeting in November
2010. Data were presented that demonstrated potent pan-Raf
kinase inhibition in biochemical kinase assays. Data were also
presented that showed profound antitumor activity in both large
B-Raf mutant melanoma tumor models, tumor models of B-Raf wild-type
melanoma and other B-Raf wild-type tumor types.
Under the terms of the agreement with Biogen Idec and
Millennium, Sunesis has received a $4 million upfront payment from
Millennium. Sunesis continues to be eligible to receive up to $60
million in pre-commercial milestone program payments and royalties
on sales of future collaboration products. In addition,
Sunesis has retained its future co-development and co-promotion
rights.
"We are delighted to transition our collaboration with Sunesis
on these oncology programs to Millennium, a world-class oncology
organization," said Steven Holtzman, Executive Vice President of
Corporate Development at Biogen Idec. "We look forward to seeing
the oncology programs progress under Sunesis and Millennium's new
collaboration, as we continue to drive forward our partnership with
Sunesis on our immunology program."
Conference Call Information
Sunesis will host a conference call on April 5, 2011, 10:00 a.m.
Eastern time to discuss the license agreement. The call can be
accessed by dialing 866.831.6267 (U.S. and Canada) or 617.213.8857
(international) and entering the passcode 12246875. To access the
live audio webcast, or the subsequent archived recording, visit the
"Investors and Media - Calendar of Events" section of the Sunesis
website at www.sunesis.com. The webcast will be recorded and
available for replay on Sunesis' website for two weeks.
About Raf Kinase Program
The Raf kinases (A-Raf, B-Raf and C-Raf) are key regulators of
cell proliferation and survival within the mitogen-activated
protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. The MAPK pathway is frequently
disregulated in human cancers, often via activating mutations of
Ras or Raf.
About Millennium
Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a leading
biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass., markets a
first-in-class proteasome inhibitor in the US, and has a robust
clinical development pipeline of global product candidates.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was acquired by Takeda
Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. in May, 2008. The Company's research,
development and commercialization activities are focused in
oncology. Additional information about Millennium and Takeda are
available through their respective websites.
About Takeda
Located in Osaka, Japan, Takeda is a research-based global
company with its main focus on pharmaceuticals. As the largest
pharmaceutical company in Japan and one of the global leaders of
the industry, Takeda is committed to strive towards better health
for patients worldwide through leading innovation in medicine.
Additional information about Takeda is available through its
corporate website, www.takeda.com.
About Sunesis Pharmaceuticals
Sunesis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the
development and commercialization of new oncology therapeutics for
the treatment of solid and hematologic cancers. Sunesis has built a
highly experienced cancer drug development organization committed
to advancing its lead product candidate, vosaroxin, in multiple
indications to improve the lives of people with cancer. For
additional information on Sunesis, please visit
www.sunesis.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including statements related to the respective collaborations
between Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company and Sunesis and
between Biogen Idec and Sunesis. These forward-looking statements
are based upon current expectations and actual results and the
timing of events could differ materially from those discussed in
such forward-looking statements as a results of risks and
uncertainties, which include, without limitation, risks related to
the timing of the development of products under the collaborations,
the achievement of milestones, the ability and willingness of
Millennium or Biogen Idec to progress collaboration compounds and
for Sunesis to receive milestone payments, royalties and
co-promotion and co-development rights. These and other risk
factors are discussed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the
companies' most recent annual and quarterly reports. The companies
expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release
publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements
contained herein to reflect any change in the companies'
expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are
based.
The Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8773
SUNESIS and the logo are trademarks of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
MILLENNIUM and the logo are trademarks of Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Investor and Media Inquiries:
Manisha Pai
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
617-551-7877
Investor Inquiries:
Eric Bjerkholt
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
650-266-3717
Media Inquiries:
David Pitts
Argot Partners
212-600-1902
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