Sanofi-Aventis, Avila Enter Global Oncology Alliance

Avila Therapeutics, Inc. has signed a worldwide strategic alliance with Sanofi-Aventis to discover targeted covalent drugs for the treatment of cancers. SA will have a worldwide exclusive license to develop and commercialize the compounds resulting from the discovery collaboration.

The two companies will work together to design targeted covalent drugs directed towards six signaling proteins that are critical in tumor cells. For the selected targets, SA will have access to Avila’s Avilomics platform that offers a unique approach to “protein silencing” that cannot be achieved through traditional medicinal chemistry.

Avila has the opportunity to retain the rights to one of the six programs after the initial three-year collaboration term and Sanofi retains a right of first negotiation for such program should Avila decide to partner that program. Avila will receive as much as $40 million in upfront and research support payments, and is eligible to receive preclinical, clinical and regulatory milestone payments of as much as $154 million per program if product is approval is obtained in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

“Avila Therapeutics’ expertise in designing targeted covalent drugs offers a new way to solve difficult pharmacological challenges in oncology and to address important cancer targets,” said Debasish Roychowdhury, M.D., senior vice president and head of oncology, Sanofi-Aventis. “We believe that Avila’s approach adds to our growing portfolio of research capabilities that will provide medicines which substantially improve patient outcomes.”