January 5, 2006
AVEO Pharmaceuticals acquires rights to novel anti-cancer compound from Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation
AVEO’s Human Response Prediction Platform to Guide Clinical Development of Multiple Kinase Inhibitor
CAMBRIDGE, MA January 5, 2006 – AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer medicines, announced today that AVEO has acquired from Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation an exclusive license to develop and commercialize Mitsubishi’s novel multiple kinase inhibitor, MP-412, in all territories outside of Asia.
AVEO expects to file an IND and commence clinical studies for MP-412 by mid-2006. AVEO initially plans to develop MP-412 for the treatment of solid tumors and will apply its Human Response Prediction platform to identify patient populations likely to be responsive to MP-412. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“The licensing of MP-412 is an important milestone for AVEO, as we continue to progress into a drug development company and strive to realize our vision of bringing molecularly targeted drugs to those patients who are most likely to respond,” said Tuan Ha-Ngoc , President and CEO of AVEO. “MP-412 has the potential to address large unmet medical needs in cancer, and it represents the first results from our in-licensing initiative designed to leverage our novel platform, which enables us to determine the genetic profiles of potentially responsive populations. This platform provides us and our partners, with a unique advantage and has the potential to increase the efficiency and probability of success of clinical programs by bringing the right drugs to the right patients. We look forward to putting MP-412 into clinical trials by mid-year.”
“AVEO’s management team, technology platform and clinical development approach offer MP-412 the best shot at realizing its full market potential,” said Akihiro Tobe, Ph.D. Managing Executive Officer from Mitsubishi. “The key challenge in cancer drug development is identifying those patients who are most likely to respond to treatment, and AVEO has the foundation in place to potentially address this problem.”
About MP-412
MP-412 is an IND-ready, second generation oral, multiple-kinase inhibitor that could potentially treat patients with solid tumors. It has shown excellent activity in various xenograft models and has a toxicity profile similar to other molecules in its class. Notably, in preclinical models, MP-412 is active against tumor cells that are resistant to first-generation kinase inhibitors. MP-412’s mechanism of action has the potential to benefit patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Metastatic Breast Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Head & Neck Cancer and Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer. AVEO’s in vivo cancer models offer an opportunity to exploit MP-412’s unique characteristics and will provide further insight into potential clinical settings, tumor subtypes and responsive patient populations.
About AVEO’s Human Response Prediction Platform
AVEO’s Human Response Prediction platform is based on AVEO’s proprietary, genetically-defined mouse models of human cancer. Each of these models is engineered to contain signature genetic mutations that are present in human disease. Beyond these cancer-initiating, engineered mutations, the resultant tumors acquire common and distinct spontaneous mutations during tumor progression, providing additional natural genetic variation akin to the range of genetic heterogeneity encountered across different primary human tumors. The tumor-to-tumor genetic variation in the system provides the opportunity to identify genetic correlations between responding and non-responding tumor populations, and to apply such genetic profiles in clinical development. Consequently, compared with traditional xenograft models that have proven to be non-predictive of efficacy, often leading to expensive and time-consuming hit or miss outcomes in clinical trials, AVEO’s cancer models are improved predictors of human response.
About AVEO
AVEO is a private biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics. The Company utilizes its proprietary, genetically-defined cancer models for the identification and validation of novel cancer targets, and has begun to build an impressive portfolio of drug discovery programs around these high-value targets. AVEO also leverages its Human Response Prediction platform to allow for the identification of genetic profiles that correspond with patient responsiveness. AVEO is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.aveopharma.com.
About Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation, a research-driven pharmaceutical company, is the core member in the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings group, under which Mitsubishi Chemical, a leading chemical company in Japan, and Mitsubishi Pharma exist as wholly subsidiaries. Formed in 2001 by the merger of Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals & Welfide Corporation (formerly Yoshitomi). The company is committed to scientific progress, pharmaceutical advancement and the creation of products that benefit worldwide people’s welfare. Its core therapeutic areas are psychiatric and central nervous system diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, immunological and respiratory diseases, and hepatic diseases. More information about the company can be found by visiting http://www.m-pharma.co.jp/.
For further information, contact:
Tuan Ha-Ngoc
617-299-5969
thangoc@aveopharma.com
