Melbourne, Australia; 11 February 2020: Starpharma (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY) today announced it has received US$3 million (A$4.5 million) from AstraZeneca following the successful dosing of the first patient in the phase 1 clinical trial of AZD0466 (DEP^® Bcl2/xL conjugate) in December.

As announced on 30 December 2019, the first patient dosed in the phase 1 trial triggered a US$3 million milestone following commencement of AstraZeneca’s first DEP^® human clinical trial. The trial is being conducted at multiple sites in the US and will recruit patients with a range of cancers.

This milestone for AZD0466 falls under the company’s multi-product license with AstraZeneca whereby Starpharma is eligible to receive development, launch and sales milestones of up to US$124 million, plus tiered royalties on net sales for this initial product, and US$93.3 million for each subsequent qualifying product.

AstraZeneca describes AZD0466 as having the potential to be a ‘best-in-class’ agent in this field with a broad opportunity in solid and haematological tumours (blood cancers) due to its ability to target both Bcl2 and Bcl/xL[1].

The initial announcement made on 30 December 2019 is available via: www.starpharma.com

Download ASX announcement: Starpharma receives US$3M milestone from AstraZeneca (pdf file, 51kb)

[1] 3rd AstraZeneca-MedImmune-CRUK Cambridge Centre Symposium 2017 presentation