Cel­gene em­braces MTAP can­cer deal with fast-mov­ing col­lab­o­ra­tor Agios

Ten months af­ter Cel­gene paid Agios $200 mil­lion to re­jig their ex­ten­sive col­lab­o­ra­tion deal, the big biotech is tak­ing a step for­ward down a me­tab­o­lism path­way for on­col­o­gy. Cel­gene has tapped Agios’ drug fo­cused on MTAP — methylth­ioadeno­sine phos­pho­ry­lase — delet­ed can­cers as a de­vel­op­ment can­di­date un­der their mas­ter agree­ment.

The move gives Agios $AGIO a quick $8 mil­lion pay­day for the ear­ly-stage ef­fort. And Cel­gene can opt in now at some point through Phase I dose es­ca­la­tion, which will re­quire hand­ing over $30 mil­lion more plus com­mit­ting to $169 mil­lion in mile­stones on the pro­gram.

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