October 10, 2014
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
After a 10-year-old partnership and a licensing agreement on a drug designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Targacept and AstraZeneca PLC have called it quits. This news came on Oct. 8 after multiple drugs in their pipeline met failure. The termination of the agreement will become official after 90 days, per terms of the contract.
All of the remaining licenses and rights attached to compounds granted by Targacept will go back to the company. Licensing and rights of compound AZD1446, also known as TC-6683, will also go back to Targacept.
Progression on the Oncology Front
Despite its decision to cut dies with Targacept and end its collaboration, AstraZeneca continues to make strides on the oncology front. In September, the company presented data from its investigational cancer drugs to the European Society of Medical Oncology 2014 Congress in Madrid. Information came from more than 40 abstracts, which built on highlights presented to the American Society for Clinical Oncology congress earlier this year.
“At ASCO we presented data demonstrating the strength and rapid progression of our oncology pipeline, which we believe has the potential to redefine the way cancer patients are treated,” said Briggs Morrison, executive vice president of Global Medicines Development and chief medical officer at AstraZeneca. “The data being presented here at the ESMO 2014 Congress further builds our clinical understanding of the key assets across our core areas of focus: immuno-oncology, the genetic drivers of cancer and acquired resistance and DNA damage repair. We are encouraged by the results we are seeing and look forward to providing further updates as we continue to work at pace to get these potentially life-changing medicines to patients.”
Some of the data that was presented included preliminary results in the ongoing Phase I MEDI4736 and tremelimumab combination study in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, data from a Phase I monotherapy study of MEDI4736 in patients with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, and data from the Phase I/II study of AZD9291 in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation positive T790M+ advanced NSCLC who had disease progression following treatment with an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
“The updated data we are presenting at the ESMO 2014 Congress reinforce our strategy of moving rapidly into Phase III development with AZD9291 in EGFRm T790M+ advanced non-small cell lung cancer,” said Antoine Yver, head of oncology in Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca, prior to addressing the congress. “We have already made significant progress with our accelerated development program and we anticipate filing for regulatory approval in the US in the second half of 2015.”
