Decision triggered a $4.25 million payment, and agreement has a potential value of $601 million.
Roche has selected a fifth biologic target under the existing license and collaboration agreement with Halozyme Therapeutics. Roche will thus pay $4.25 million for exclusive, global rights to use Halozyme’s recombinant human hyaluronidase, rHuPH20, with this target.
In December 2006 Roche paid Halozyme $20 million up front to apply the Enhanze™ Technology, a drug delivery platform, to three biological therapeutic compounds. The deal also allowed it to select up to 10 additional targets.
All told, the deal has a value of over $601 million plus royalties: $20 million up front, $111 million in clinical, regulatory, and sales milestones related to the first three targets, and up to $47 million in initial and milestone fees for each of the additional 10 targets.
Besides the fee to kick-start the arrangement and today’s payment, Halozyme received $10.25 million in December 2008 with the selection of a fourth target and start of a Phase I study. Roche also initiated a Phase I trial with a biologic directed against its second target in January 2009, but the amount of the milestone payment was not reported.
The Enhanze Technology is based on rHuPH20, an analogue of a human enzyme that temporarily clears space in the matrix of tissues such as skin. This clearing activity should allow rHuPH20 to improve drug delivery by enhancing the entry of therapeutic molecules through the subcutaneous space.
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