Biogen, Genentech Restructure Antibody Pact

Biogen Idec and Genentech, Inc. have amended their antibody collaboration targeting CD20. Genentech will have responsibility for further development and commercialization of ocrelizumab in multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as all costs going forward. Biogen will receive royalties on U.S. sales of ocrelizumab. The companies have also agreed that the commercialization of ocrelizumab will not impact the current profit share of Rituxan (rituximab).

Biogen will increase its share of the losses and profits related to the development and commercialization of GA101 in the U.S. to 35% from 30%. GA101 is a next-generation anti-CD20 antibody in development for CLL and NHL. Biogen will pay Genentech approximately $10 million for expenses incurred to date on the drug. If GA101 achieves certain sales milestones, Biogen’s co-promotion profits of Rituxan will decrease from 40% to 35%.

“I am pleased that we were able to reach this agreement with Genentech,” said George Scangos, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Biogen Idec, “Our partnership with Genentech is very important to us, and I believe this agreement is in the interests of both companies and patients. This agreement allows Genentech and Roche to aggressively develop the compound in MS, while allowing Biogen Idec to avoid a further concentration of its R&D dollars in phase III trials for multiple sclerosis. Further, we have agreed on the profit sharing arrangements for GA101 and Rituxan, which were a potential area of dispute. The companies’ interests are now aligned, allowing us to work together to maximize the revenues for the collaboration products while maximizing the benefit for patients.”

“We believe both Genentech and Biogen Idec will benefit from the new structure of the anti-CD20 collaboration,” said Dan Zabrowski, head of Roche Partnering. “Recently we announced exciting phase II study results which showed that ocrelizumab significantly reduced disease activity as measured by brain lesions and relapse rate for patients with MS. We believe in the potential of ocrelizumab and look forward to exploring it further in phase III studies.”