Pharmacyclics Acquires Celera Drug Candidates

Pharmacyclics has acquired multiple small molecule drug candidates for the treatment of cancer and other diseases from Celera Genomics. The deal includes technology and intellectual property relating to drugs that target histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes, selective HDAC enzymes, angiogenesis molecules and B cell tyrosine kinases involved in immune function.

Pharmacyclics made an upfront cash payment of $2 million and an equity payment of between five hundred thousand and one million shares of Pharmacyclics common stock, depending on the stock price during a specified period. If the programs meet certain developmental milestones and result in drugs that are approved and commercialized in key geographical markets, they may generate potential future milestone payments to Celera of as much as $144 million. In addition, Celera will be entitled to royalty payments in the mid- to high single digits based on annual sales of any drugs commercialized from the three programs.

“This transaction enables us to realize immediate and potential long-term value as these programs continue to progress, while allowing us to focus our resources on our core business of molecular diagnostics and proteomics and genomics discovery,” said Kathy Ordonez, president of Celera Genomics. “Moreover, we’re pleased that Pharmacyclics is moving all three programs forward together, particularly with its strong focus on and expertise in oncology drug development. This underscores our scientists’ outstanding achievements and is a major step in our planned exit from small molecule development.”

The acquisition included the following candidates:

*  HDAC inhibitor drug candidates in Phase 1 clinical trials for treatment of refractory solid tumors;

*  a first-in-class HDAC-8 selective inhibitor in preclinical development for the potential treatment of cancer;

*  a first-in-class Factor VIIa inhibitor targeting a tumor signaling pathway involved in angiogenesis, tumor cell growth and metastases, and with potential applications in anticoagulation and cardiology; and

*  B-cell-associated tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which have potential utility in lymphoma and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.