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news.Prothena has entered into a multi-year research and development collaboration with Celgene to develop new therapies to treat patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
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The partnership will focus on developing three proteins, including tau, TDP-43 and an undisclosed target, implicated in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative diseases.
Celgene will be provided with an exclusive right to license clinical candidates in the US at the investigational new drug (IND) filing, and is also having option to extend the license to global rights at the completion of phase 1 study.
Celgene will provide funding for all further global clinical development and commercialization activities.
As per terms of the deal, Prothena will secure $100m upfront payment and $50m equity investment from Celgene.
Prothena is also eligible to secure future potential exercise payments and regulatory and commercial milestones for each licensed program, as well as additional royalties on net sales of any resulting marketed products.
Tau is a protein implicated in diseases, comprising Alzheimer's disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and other tauopathies.
Prothena has discovered antibodies targeting novel epitopes on the tau protein can block misfolded tau from binding to cells and inhibit cell-to-cell transmission to prevent downstream functional toxic effects.
TDP-43 is a protein implicated in diseases such as amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the most common subtype of FTD, behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), a proportion of AD and other TDP-43 proteinopathies.
Celgene neuroscience and imaging corporate vice president Richard Hargreaves said: “Our collaboration leverages each company's core expertise in protein homeostasis and protein clearance to target proteins that are the underlying cause of many neurodegenerative and orphan diseases.”
Prothena CEO and president Gene Kinney said: "We are excited to be working with Celgene, a leading global biopharmaceutical company with deep expertise in targeting critical biological pathways involved in protein homeostasis and an extensive track record of successfully bringing forward innovative new therapies based on this biology.”