Curis Inc, Dr Reddy's arm in drug discovery pact

Curis Inc, Dr Reddy's arm in drug discovery pact

US-based biotechnology company Curis, Inc has entered into an exclusive collaboration agreement with Aurigene Discovery Technologies, an independent wholly-owned subsidiary of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories focusing on development of select cancer therapies.

On Thursday, Curis and Aurigene issued a joint statement announcing their collaboration.

The collaboration provides for inclusion of multiple programmes and Curis retains the option to license compounds once a development candidate is nominated within each respective programme. The collaboration focuses on immuno-oncology and selected precision oncology targets, it said.

The partnership draws from each company’s respective areas of expertise, with Aurigene having the responsibility for conducting all discovery and pre-clinical activities while Curis is responsible for all clinical development, regulatory and commercialisation efforts worldwide, excluding India and Russia.

In connection with the transaction, Curis has agreed to issue to Aurigene approximately 17.1 million shares of its common stock or 19.9 per cent of its outstanding common stock immediately prior to the transaction, in partial consideration for the rights granted to the former under the agreement.

It has also agreed to make payments to Aurigene up to $ 52 million each for the first two programmes, up to $50 million each to the third and fourth programmes and up to $140. 5 million for any programme thereafter. Curis would also pay Aurigene royalties on its net sales ranging from high single digits to 10 per cent in territories where it commercialises products and will also share in amounts that it receives from sub-licenses depending upon the stage of development of the respective molecule.

“We are thrilled to partner with Aurigene to discover, develop and commercialise small molecule drug candidates generated from Aurigene’s novel technology and believe that this collaboration represents a true transformation for Curis that positions the company for continued growth in the development and eventual commercialisation of cancer drugs. The multi-year nature of our collaboration has the potential to generate a steady pipeline of novel drug candidates in the coming years,”said Ali Fattaey, president and chief executive officer of Curtis.

“...The unique collaboration is an opportunity for Aurigene to participate in advancing our discoveries into clinical development and beyond, and mutually align interests as provided for in our agreement,” said CSN Murthy chief executive officer of Aurigene.