Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has earned $28 million from AstraZeneca following AstraZeneca’s completion of IND-supporting studies and license of IONIS-KRAS-2.5, or AZD4785. IONIS-KRAS-2.5x is a Generation 2.5 antisense drug discovered by Ionis designed to directly target KRAS, one of the most frequently mutated genes in cancer.
IONIS-KRAS-2.5x will be the first drug to enter clinical development that directly targets KRAS, regardless of mutation type. AstraZeneca will be responsible for further developing and commercializing IONIS-KRAS-2.5.
Ionis and AstraZeneca are collaborating to discover and develop antisense drugs to treat cancer under a Collaboration, License and Development Agreement entered into in December 2012. The collaboration combines AstraZeneca’s experience and expertise in developing anti-cancer agents with Ionis’ antisense technology platform to broaden Ionis’ cancer franchise.
With the completion of the IND-supporting studies for IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx, Ionis has received more than $85 million in upfront and milestone payments from its oncology collaboration with AstraZeneca and is eligible to earn additional milestone payments as the drug progresses in development as well as royalties on sales of IONIS-KRAS-2.5x if it is commercialized.
AstraZeneca is also evaluating, as part of the oncology collaboration, another drug to treat cancer, AZD9150 (IONIS-STAT3-2.5Rx), in combination with durvalumab, AstraZeneca’s investigational anti-PD-L1 antibody, in patients with head and neck cancer and in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The two companies have also formed a collaboration to discover and develop antisense therapies for treating cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases.
