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news.Aveo Pharmaceuticals has re-attained worldwide rights to develop and commercialise AV-299 (also known as SCH 900105) from Merck (through its subsidiary, Schering Corporation).
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Discovered by Aveo Pharma through its Human Response Platform, AV-299 is a functional anti-HGF antibody.
The Phase 1 clinical trials of AV-299 demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile and good combinability with EGFR inhibitors, erlotinib (Tarceva) and gefitinib (Iressa), Aveo said.
Further, Aveo Pharma has commenced a Phase 2 clinical trial in June 2010 assessing AV-299 in combination with gefitinib versus gefitinib monotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
In combination with the Phase 2 trial initiation, Merck paid $8.5m milestone payment to Aveo under the terms of the license agreement.
Aveo Pharma president and CEO Tuan Ha-Ngoc said that the firm is very pleased to regain worldwide rights for the development and commercialisation of AV-299.
“Our expected year-end 2010 cash balance remains unchanged, and we reaffirm that Aveo has sufficient capital to take us beyond data from TIVO-1, our ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of tivozanib in patients with renal cell carcinoma. We look forward to sharing top-line TIVO-1 data in mid-2011,” said Ngoc.