The milestone was achieved with the completion of phase I clinical testing of Hematide in normal healthy volunteers in Japan.
“We look forward to continued progress in the Hematide development program as we move towards initiation of our phase III clinical trials in chronic kidney disease and initiation of a phase IIb clinical trial in oncology,” said Arlene Morris, Affymax’s president and CEO.
Affymax will co-commercialize Hematide in the United States. Takeda holds an exclusive license to develop and commercialize Hematide outside the United States, including Japan.
Affymax leads the renal development program and commercialization in the US, while Takeda leads the oncology development and commercialization program worldwide and the renal development and commercialization outside the US.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Affymax received $122 million in upfront license fees and $10 million from the sale of equity. Affymax is eligible to receive milestone payments of up to an additional $345 million and up to $150 million upon successful commercialization of Hematide.