Trubion Pharmaceuticals
Based: Seattle 
Founded: 2002
Why It's Fierce: Trubion Pharmaceuticals is pocketing a $40 million up-front payment from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as it signs a collaboration deal worth up to $800 million in potential milestones. It's a good fit for Wyeth, with both companies focused on new treatments for inflammatory diseases and cancer. Even by current standards, this licensing deal was huge. Wyeth was drawn by Trubion's work with small modular immunopharmaceuticals, or SMIPs. If Trubion is right, SMIPs represent a new class of immunotherapeutics with distinct advantages over current therapies. Due to their smaller size, SMIPs have shown an ability to reach areas of the body antibodies can't hit. Researchers have touted their selective binding capacity and stability, which should help a body metabolize the drug and lower dosage requirements. As part of the alliance, Wyeth and Trubion will collaborate on the development and commercialization of CD20-targeted therapies including TRU-015, a novel SMIP compound currently in Phase II clinical development for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. TRU-015 is designed to deplete B cells--a new therapeutic strategy for B cell mediated autoimmune and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and also a promising strategy for certain cancers with malignant B cells.
What to look for: Phase II data will be key.
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