Two years after FierceBiotech picked Astex Therapeutics in the UK as one of our Fierce 15 companies to watch, the biotech company is still rolling up impressive licensing deals with big pharma.
Today Astex announced a $537 million licensing deal with Janssen Pharmaceutica covering FGFR inhibitors for cancer discovered by its fragment-based drug discovery platform. And the deal--which provides $37 million upfront--includes a discovery collaboration for two more cancer targets.
The new Janssen deal underscores the private company's approach to funding part of its operations through sizeable collaborations sparked by its discovery platform. In today's pact, Janssen R&D arm Ortho Biotech Research & Development agreed to pay for the development costs of the programs while giving Astex an option on co-commercialization rights in the U.S.--a key provision for many developers looking to the future.
Astex adds to slate of pacts with $537M Janssen deal. Article