1 September 2024
AstraZeneca DEP® candidate advance triggers milestone to Starpharma
- First AstraZeneca DEP® candidate under the multiproduct license advances towards the clinic
- US$2 million milestone payment triggered
- Progress further validates the broad applicability of the DEP® platform
Melbourne, Australia; 20 April 2017: Starpharma (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY) today announced the achievement of a key preclinical milestone for its DEP® drug delivery technology in combination with a proprietary oncology molecule from AstraZeneca. The advance triggers a US$2 million milestone payment under Starpharma’s multiproduct DEP® license. This is the final preclinical milestone prior to advancing the first AZ DEP® candidate to clinical trials and follows the completion of extensive testing and scale up activities.
Under the multiproduct AstraZeneca DEP® license, Starpharma is eligible to receive potential development, launch and sales milestones of US$124 million for this AZ DEP® product, and US$93.3 million for each subsequent qualifying product. Starpharma also will receive tiered royalties on net sales on the resultant AstraZeneca DEP® products.
Commenting on the milestone payment, Starpharma CEO, Dr Jackie Fairley, said: “We are delighted to announce the achievement of this important development milestone by AstraZeneca triggering the further payment. Both parties are extremely impressed by how well the DEP® candidate is performing and we look forward to seeing this initial compound advance to the clinic. What’s particularly gratifying is the advancing AstraZeneca DEP® candidate provides further validation of the utility and consistent performance of the DEP® platform, which we also see in other partner programs and our expanding internal programs”.
"Achievement of this important development milestone is indicative of the success we have seen in our DEP® program in partnership with Starpharma. It is a highly productive collaboration and the DEP® technology has enabled us to advance a very exciting novel oncology agent towards the clinic. We’re continuing to investigate the potential of DEP® more broadly across molecules within our oncology portfolio.’’
Dr Susan Galbraith,
SVP, Head of the Oncology Innovative Medicines Unit at AstraZeneca
Under the 2015 multiproduct DEP® license, AstraZeneca funds all development and commercialisation costs for the AstraZeneca DEP® products under the agreement. The agreement enables the development and commercialisation by AstraZeneca of compounds directed at a defined family of targets using Starpharma’s DEP® drug delivery technology.
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