ImmunoGen Enters Research Collaboration With SUNY Stony Brook To Develop Taxane-Based Tumor-Activated Prodrugs
NORWOOD, Mass., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN) today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration with the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook to develop novel taxane compounds which can be used as new effector molecules for the Company's Tumor- Activated Prodrug (TAP) technology. The Company will work closely with Iwao Ojima, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Chemistry. Under the terms of the agreement, joint discoveries will be owned by both parties, and ImmunoGen has an exclusive option to license SUNY Stony Brook's ownership stake. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"Broadening our TAP technology is an important component of our long-term strategy. Through this collaboration, we aim to create another platform of TAPs with a different mechanism of action from our existing DM1 and DC1 effector molecules," said Mitchel Sayare, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of ImmunoGen, Inc. "We are delighted to be collaborating with Dr. Ojima, an expert in the synthesis of a wide variety of taxanes."
ImmunoGen's lead TAP, huC242-DM1/SB408075, is being developed with SmithKline Beecham, and is in human clinical trials for treatment of colorectal, pancreatic and certain non-small cell lung cancers. ImmunoGen is advancing its second TAP, huN901-DM1 for treatment of small cell lung cancer, toward clinical evaluation. The DM1 effector molecule is a member of a family of potent chemotherapeutic agents called maytansinoids. Maytansinoids act by a mechanism similar to established chemotherapeutic drugs such as the Vinca alkaloids (e.g., vincristine, vinblastine), which inhibit tubulin polymerization. The mechanism of action of taxanes (e.g., Taxol®, Taxotere®) differs from that of DM1 by inhibiting tubulin depolymerization, offering the potential to use the different TAP platforms in combination.
ImmunoGen, Inc. develops innovative biopharmaceuticals, primarily for cancer treatment. The Company has created potent tumor-activated prodrugs, consisting of drugs coupled to monoclonal antibodies, for delivery to and destruction of cancer cells.
This press release includes forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from such expectations include, but are not limited to: the ability to secure future funding; the success of the Company's research strategy; the applicability of the discoveries made therein; the difficulties inherent in the development of pharmaceuticals, including uncertainties as to the timing and results of preclinical studies; delayed achievements of milestones; reliance on collaborators; uncertainty as to whether the Company's potential products will succeed in entering human clinical trials and uncertainty as to the results of such trials; uncertainty as to whether adequate reimbursement for these products will exist from the government, private healthcare insurers and third-party payors; and the uncertainties as to the extent of future government regulation of the pharmaceutical business.
