Date: 2012-02-07
Type of information: Milestone
Compound: new antibiotics for treatment of MDR pathogens (RX-04 program)
Company: Sanofi (France) Rib-X Pharmaceuticals (USA)
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism: The RX-04 program is focused on using a discrete, novel binding site within the ribosome to design and develop new classes of antibiotics to treat some of the most deadly and difficult-to-treat, multi-drug resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative infections. Using Rib-X’s proprietary drug discovery platform, the Company has developed three novel classes of antibiotics in less than three years that bind to this ribosome site.
Disease:
Details: * On July 6, 2011, 6Rib-X Pharmaceuticals has concluded an exclusive worldwide research collaboration agreement and option for license with Sanofi for novel classes of antibiotics resulting from Rib-X’s RX-04 program for the treatment of resistant Gram-positive and resistant Gram-negative pathogens. The Rib-X RX-04 program targets bacterial ribosomes, an internal cell component, where proteins are synthesized from amino acids and RNA. Sanofi has the right to develop multiple products under this agreement. Except for those assets licensed to Sanofi through the agreement, Rib-X retains its rights to the discovery platform and its future programs. Rib-X retains a co-promotion option in the United States on one of the molecules coming from the collaboration. Royalty rates on net sales could reach low double digit figures.
Financial terms: Under the terms of the agreement, Rib-X will receive $10 million in an upfront payment. Rib-X is also eligible to receive up to an additional $9 million in near-term research-based milestones and will be eligible to receive further payments for the achievement of research, preclinical, regulatory and commercial milestones. . The agreement could result in up to $86 million in development and regulatory milestones on a per product basis. Commercial milestones could exceed $100 million on a per product basis.
Latest news: * On February 07, 2012 , Rib-X Pharmaceuticals has announced the receipt of a $3 million milestone payment from Sanofi. The payment is the fourth received for milestones achieved following the signing in July 2011 of their research collaboration and option for license for novel classes of antibiotics resulting from Rib-X’s RX-04 program for the treatment of drug resistant Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. The payment, which was part of the pre-specified terms of the agreement, was for the achievement of research-based milestones. Rib-X has received $22.0 million to date in upfront and milestone payments under the collaboration.
