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Prothena and Evotec Score Major Deals with Bristol Myers Squibb for Neuroscience Breakthroughs
Bristol Myers Squibb is entering into two new partnerships for neuroscience drug discovery. Prothena will receive 55 million USD to licence their clinical Alzheimer’s drug candidate and Evotec will get 40 million USD for some of their late stage clinical programs.
The interest in neuroscience has been spurred by BMS subsidiary Celgene’s partnership with Evotec; the two partners worked on treatments for neurodegenerative diseases in 2016 and have recently extended their collaboration for another eight years. This is also not the first time that BMS has worked with Prothena, previously signing an antibodies deal for 100 million USD.
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The announcement of BMS’s licence of Prothena’s product, PRX005, comes after phase I clinical data on the candidate was released. The company had previously bought the US rights for 80 million USD and has now committed to licencing the anti-tau antibody in the rest of the world in the 55 million USD deal.
BMS’s Senior Vice President, Richard Hargreaves, said in a statement the PRX005 “has the potential to provide a meaningful disease-modifying treatment option.”
He added: “PRX005 becomes a key component of our commitment to the Alzheimer’s disease community and our neuroscience portfolio, and we look forward to continuing its development.”
The phase I clinical trial is still ongoing and will now have its updates reported through its now global licensee, BMS. Prothena has said that it hopes to release data from the ascending dose clinical trial by the end of the year.
Prothena has competition from the likes of J&J and Esai but is confident that it can deliver a best-in-class anti-tau antibody. They believe that their candidate also has potential as a combination therapy. Now BMS have the task of validating their purchase from Prothena, and to work on their Evotec programs.
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