SuperGen has teamed up with GlaxoSmithKline in a $375 million drug development deal to find new cancer therapies, and investors spurred its shares up by 28 percent on the news.
In a deal that is largely back-ended, SuperGen gets $5 million upfront--a figure that includes a $3 million equity stake for Glaxo--and commercial and development milestones that top out above $375 million. SuperGen is working in the field of epigenetics, atacking cancer by regulating gene expression.
Last summer, Dublin, CA-based SuperGen announced Phase Ib data of MP-470, its tyrosine kinase inhibitor and RAD51 suppressor, demonstrating an overall clinical benefit rate of 54 percent when the drug is given in combination with carboplatin containing doublet chemotherapy in patients with small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine malignancies.
- check out the SuperGen release on the deal