Alder Biopharmaceuticals says that it will pocket a $15 million milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb now that the pharma company has launched a Phase IIb study of ALD518/BMS-945429, an IL-6 blocking antibody designed to combat rheumatoid arthritis.
The biotech upstart is run by an ambitious crew of execs who boot-strapped the company using nothing but credit cards and a focus on the hot new antibody arena back in 2004. Alder--a 2010 Fierce 15 company--has brought in $67 million in venture backing along with the $85 million BMS paid upfront to partner on the IL-6 program. If successful, Alder stands to reap more than a billion dollars from that deal alone.
The biotech also has high hopes of its own for the program. "We also look forward to progressing our internal work with the antibody as a potential treatment in cancer and cancer supportive care," said Randall Schatzman, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Alder Biopharmaceuticals.
- here's the Alder release