Daiichi, ArQule ink $75M development pact

ArQule and Daiichi Sankyo have formed an R&D partnership with two separate agreements. First, Daiichi will give ArQule $60 million up front and additional sales and milestone payments to co-develop ARQ 197, a cancer treatment. The companies will collaborate on the drug in the U.S., Europe, South America and the rest of the world, excluding certain parts of Asia where Kyowa has exclusive rights to the drug.

In addition, Daiichi will pay $15 million for use of ArQule's kinase inhibitor discovery platform to develop new cancer therapies. Daiichi will have the option to license two compounds directed to targets identified using this discovery platform.

"For ArQule, this strategic relationship will achieve several product development, scientific and financial objectives," said Paolo Pucci (photo), chief executive officer of ArQule. "First, it will allow us to optimize a clinical program with ARQ 197 that elicits the full therapeutic potential of this highly selective c-Met inhibitor. Second, it supports and further validates the application of our proprietary technology platform to the discovery of a new generation of selective inhibitors of kinases implicated in cancer. Finally, it provides meaningful, non-dilutive infusions of cash, as well as an opportunity for cost sharing."

- see this release for more

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