Good news for Adelaide-based biotechnology company Bionomics with completion of the first milestone in its ongoing collaboration with MSD.
The collaboration, which was announced in June 2014, covers the development of novel candidates for treatment of cognitive dysfunction associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
The first milestone payment of US$10 million has been triggered by the first administration of a candidate therapy in a clinical trial.
“We are excited that MSD has initiated this clinical trial evaluating a candidate developed under our cognition collaboration. This milestone provides validation of the utility of our drug discovery platform to identify high-quality candidates as well as our strategic approach to partner selected assets,” said Bionomics CEO and managing director, Dr Deborah Rathjen.
“The portfolio of products under our collaboration with MSD are designed to address cognitive dysfunction in important CNS indications, and Alzheimer's disease is of chief importance among these as there remains an urgent need for new treatments," she added.
Under the agreement, MSD funds all early-stage and clinical development of any candidate within the collaboration and is responsible for worldwide commercialisation. Bionomics received US$20 million in upfront payments and is eligible to receive up to US$506 million for reaching predefined research and clinical development milestones, plus eventual undisclosed royalties on any product sales.