Infinity Pharmaceuticals ($INFI) has some new wiggle room in its budget to develop its PI3K inhibitor intended to combat blood cancers and inflammation. Mundipharma International, Infinity's partner on the drug, agreed to pump more than $50 million into the program and other candidates in 2013, building on the alliance formed between the two companies in 2008, Infinity said Tuesday.
The Cambridge, MA-based developer's PI3K inhibitor, IPI-145, is in two Phase I clinical trials, including one to test the safety and tolerance in healthy volunteers and a second that will enable the company to gauge the activity of the drug in patients with advanced hematologic cancers. Mundipharma, headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., initially committed $75 million to Infinity when the two companies formed the alliance in 2008, Mass High Tech reported.
Infinity reported Tuesday that IPI-145 is the only inhibitor of the PI3K-delta and gamma enzymes in clinical development, and data from the Phase I studies of the drug are expected in 2012.
"Since our alliance began in 2008, Infinity has advanced and expanded its portfolio of innovative product candidates," Antony Mattessich, regional director of Europe at Mundipharma, said in a statement. "Infinity's productivity and track record in achieving its development objectives make the company an ideal partner, and we look forward to an ongoing collaboration which we hope will yield multiple best-in-class treatments that address significant unmet medical needs."
Separate from the R&D funding, Infinity has taken a $50 million line of credit from Mundipharma and said Tuesday that it has drawn the full amount of the credit line.
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