Af­ter a se­ries of PI3k pile­ups, Genen­tech of­floads a PhII-ready ri­val for fire­sale price

Why would Genen­tech, of all bio­phar­ma com­pa­nies, out-li­cense a PI3k in­hibitor for on­ly $5 mil­lion? That’s a ques­tion a few biotechs may be ask­ing them­selves this morn­ing af­ter see­ing the terms in a deal be­tween the biotech gi­ant and lit­tle Aus­tralian biotech Novo­gen.

Genen­tech de­cid­ed to of­fload GDC-0084 af­ter com­plet­ing a Phase I study of the drug for glioblas­toma. Novo­gen ($NVGN) ac­knowl­edges that there have been sev­er­al PI3k in­hibitors in de­vel­op­ment, but says that this one is dis­tin­guished by its abil­i­ty to cross the blood-brain bar­ri­er to reach the most com­mon form of brain can­cer.

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