NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - OSI Pharmaceuticals said today that it has expanded a translational research collaboration with AVEO Pharmaceuticals to develop patient-selection biomarkers for cancer therapies under development at OSI.
The partnership, originally announced in 2007, relates to the development of therapies to target epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer.
Under the terms of the expanded agreement, OSI will pay AVEO $20 million, of which $5 million is an upfront cash payment and $15 million is an equity investment. OSI will also provide AVEO research funding over the next two years, and may also provide additional royalties and milestones. Under the original agreement, OSI paid AVEO $10 million in cash upfront and purchased around $5 million worth of equity in the privately held firm.
OSI said that it will receive rights "beyond the original collaboration," including rights to additional EMT targets and "increased access" to AVEO's tumor models, archives, and biomarkers. OSI will also acquire non-exclusive access to AVEO's proprietary bioinformatics platform.
OSI will also have the option to "internalize" components of AVEO's proprietary technology platform including, the company's Human Response Platform for identifying novel EMT agents and proprietary patient selection biomarkers.