ImmunoGen, Inc. Earns $4 Million Milestone Payment with Sanofi-Aventis (France)'s Initiation of a Phase II Trial with AVE1642
October 28, 2008--WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN - News), a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted anticancer therapeutics, today announced the Company earned a $4 million milestone payment from sanofi-aventis with their initiation of a Phase II clinical trial with AVE1642.
"Sanofi-aventis is making solid progress with AVE1642 and is committed to evaluating this compound for a number of types of cancers," commented Daniel Junius, President and Chief Operating Officer. "While ImmunoGen is principally known for our Tumor-Activated Prodrug technology, we have well-established antibody development capabilities, as reflected in AVE1642."
AVE1642 was developed by ImmunoGen using the Company's expertise in monoclonal antibodies and cancer biology, and was humanized using ImmunoGen's proprietary resurfacing technology. The compound was licensed to sanofi-aventis as part of a broader collaboration between the companies. AVE1642 binds specifically to IGF-1R to block a signaling pathway used by cancer cells to proliferate and survive exposure to chemotherapy. Sanofi-aventis recently initiated a Phase II trial evaluating AVE1642 given in combination with fulvestrant for the treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer.
About ImmunoGen, Inc.
ImmunoGen, Inc. develops targeted anticancer therapeutics using its expertise in cancer biology, monoclonal antibodies and the creation and attachment of potent cell-killing agents. The Company's Tumor-Activated Prodrug (TAP) technology uses antibodies to deliver one of ImmunoGen's proprietary cell-killing agents specifically to cancer targets. In addition to the Company's proprietary clinical pipeline, ImmunoGen collaborators Genentech, sanofi-aventis, Biogen Idec, and Biotest also are testing TAP compounds in the clinic, and the naked antibody AVE1642 is in clinical trials through the Company's collaboration with sanofi-aventis. Other ImmunoGen collaborative partners include Bayer HealthCare and Amgen.
Contact:
ImmunoGen, Inc. Carol Hausner, 781-895-0600 Executive Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications info@immunogen.com
Source: ImmunoGen, Inc.