Pharmacyclics Inks Agreement With Novo Nordisk
Pharmacyclics Inc. recently announced it has signed an agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S giving the Danish insulin producer rights to certain uses of its Factor VIIa molecule inhibitor, according to a regulatory filing. Pharmacyclics shares rose 3.75% to $67.20 in after-hours trading. Through the close, the stock had more than doubled in the past 6 months.
Under the terms of the agreement, Novo Nordisk will acquire the world-wide rights to PCI-27483 for specific non-cancer-related uses. The Danish company plans to use it as an excipient in an unnamed product within its biopharmaceutical unit.
Pharmacyclics has been developing PCI-27483 to inhibit the intracellular signaling involved in tumor growth and to thwart the blood clots that afflict some cancer patients. The biopharmaceutical company expects to receive an up-front payment of $5 million, as well as up to $55 million based on the achievement of certain development, regulatory, and sales milestones. It also will receive royalties on sales of Novo Nordisk products that use PCI-27483. Novo Nordisk’s American depositary shares closed Tuesday at $161.38 and were unchanged after hours. The ADS are up 40% so far this year.
Pharmacyclics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and immune-mediated diseases. Its corporate mission statement is to build a viable biopharmaceutical company that designs, develops, and commercializes novel therapies intended to improve quality of life, increase duration of life, and resolve serious medical healthcare needs; to identify promising product candidates based on exceptional scientific development expertise; develop its products in a rapid, cost-efficient manner; and to pursue commercialization and/or development partners when and where appropriate.
Presently, Pharmacyclics has three product candidates in clinical development and several preclinical molecules in lead optimization. The company is committed to high standards of ethics, scientific rigor, and operational efficiency as it moves each of these programs toward potential commercialization. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, visit www.pharmacyclics.com.
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