Epizyme Hits Eisai Milestone

Epizyme, Inc. has achieved a preclinical milestone in its alliance with Eisai Co., Ltd., triggering a $4 million milestone payment. The companies entered a worldwide strategic alliance in March 2011 to discover, develop and commercialize therapeutics targeting EZH2, an epigenetic enzyme, for the treatment of lymphoma and other cancers in genetically-defined patients.

In total, Epizyme is eligible for more than $200 million in R&D and sales milestones, as well as double-digit royalties. Additionally, Eisai will fund 100% of R&D through human proof-of-concept, at which point Epizyme has the right to opt into a profit share and co-commercialization arrangement for the U.S.

Robert Copeland, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Epizyme, said, “EZH2 is a very promising oncogenic target with strong validation in genetically-defined cancers, including subtypes of lymphoma and solid tumors with high unmet therapeutic needs. It has been less than a year since we began our partnership with Eisai. The significant progress we have made in this time affirms Epizyme’s ability to discover and pursue small molecule histone methyltransferase inhibitors as personalized therapeutics for genetically-defined cancer patients.”