In a first, As­traZeneca gains rights to an an­ti­sense KRAS drug in $165M Io­n­is deal

As­traZeneca is hand­ing over $28 mil­lion to Io­n­is in ex­change for rights to de­vel­op one of its ear­ly-stage can­cer drugs. The phar­ma gi­ant has al­so com­mit­ted up to $137 mil­lion in de­vel­op­ment and reg­u­la­to­ry mile­stones for ONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx, or AZD4785, af­ter wrap­ping up IND-sup­port­ing stud­ies.

The drug tar­gets KRAS, which spawns ge­net­ic mu­ta­tions that fig­ure promi­nent­ly in can­cer cas­es, giv­ing As­traZeneca boast­ing rights to the first an­ti­sense drug with KRAS as a tar­get that will en­ter clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment.

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