AVEO Earns $5M Biogen Milestone

AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has received a $5 million milestone payment from Biogen Idec International GmbH, a subsidiary of Biogen Idec, for the selection of the first humanized antibody development candidate from its ErbB3 program.

In March 2009, AVEO entered an exclusive option and license agreement with Biogen for the development and commercialization of AVEO’s discovery-stage ErbB3-targeted antibodies for the potential treatment and diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. Under terms of the agreement, AVEO is responsible for developing ErbB3 antibodies through completion of the proof-of-concept trial to generate efficacy data to support progression to a Phase III trial. AVEO retains the exclusive right to commercialize ErbB3 antibody products in North America.

“We are very pleased with the progress we have made on the ErbB3 program and the selection of the first development candidate,” stated Elan Ezickson, chief business officer of AVEO. “AVEO has built a state-of-the-art antibody drug discovery platform dedicated to the delivery of novel, high-quality oncology antibody drug candidates which has yielded a rich pipeline of product candidates. The collaboration with Biogen Idec around the ErbB3 program and our collaboration with Merck on our clinical stage HGF/c-MET product AV-299 represent two of the more than 10 programs we have generated through our highly efficient and productive platform.”