Working to rebuild itself in the wake of last fall's clinical trial pratfall, CombinatoRx has agreed to pay up to $257 million for the licensing rights to Clinical Data's multiple myeloma treatment, an adenosine A2A agonist dubbed ATL313. CombinatoRx takes on the responsibility for preclinical and clinical work related to B-cell malignancies and Clinical Data has an option to gain co-development rights after looking over Phase IIa data.
"Adenosine A2A agonists have shown tremendous promise in the development of therapeutics to treat a variety of diseases including cancer, inflammation, and pain disorders," said Clinical Data CEO Drew Fromkin. "We are pleased to continue to leverage the value of our highly selective adenosine pipeline by working with CombinatoRx to develop new therapies for multiple myeloma and other B-cell malignancies."
CombinatoRx was forced to trigger a painful restructuring of the company following a clinical trial failure last fall. Two thirds of the staff was laid off in order to stretch the company's cash reserves. But just weeks ago CombinatoRx announced a complex deal to merge with Canada's Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, a move that the company said would provide a fresh injection of funds.
- read the press release
- check out the Boston Business Journal piece