Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

(Sharecast News) - Drugmaker AstraZeneca's Alexion rare diseases unit has inked an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Neurimmune that will see the pair develop and commercialise NI006, an investigational human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy.
AstraZeneca said on Friday that under the agreement, Alexion will be granted an exclusive worldwide licence to develop, manufacture and commercialise NI006, with Neurimmune receiving an upfront payment of $30.0m and the potential for additional contingent milestone payments of up to $730.0m, as well as low-to-mid teen royalties on net sales of any approved medicine resulting from the collaboration.

The FTSE 100-listed group stated there was "a significant unmet medical need" for patients with various types and levels of severity of amyloidosis that may require multiple mechanisms of action to address them and that NI006, an ATTR depleter, added a "novel and complementary approach" to its pipeline of investigational therapies focused on amyloidosis and strengthened its "broader commitment to addressing cardiomyopathies that can lead to heart failure".

Alexion chief executive Marc Dunoyer said: "With 30 years of experience in developing medicines for people with rare diseases, Alexion is uniquely positioned to advance innovative science for small patient populations who are frequently underdiagnosed.

"We look forward to applying this expertise to the development of NI006, which is designed to clear cardiac amyloid fibril deposits with the potential to improve cardiac function for patients living with advanced ATTR-CM, who are currently underserved by existing treatment options."