Roche told Californian biotech Maxygen that it was terminating the agreement based on the inability of the parties to establish an animal model intended to provide preclinical de-risking of the program. Upon termination of the agreement, all rights to the MAXY-VII product candidates revert back to Maxygen, the company said.
“We are disappointed with Roche's decision to terminate their involvement in the Factor VII program,” said Russell Howard, Maxygen's CEO. “Treatment options for acute bleeding conditions, such as trauma, are clearly needed. We plan to evaluate the situation carefully before determining the next steps for our MAXY-VII program.”
Maxygen added that the company's agreement with Roche for the development of hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus infections treatments is not impacted by this decision, and the parties continue this partnership entered into in 2003.