Langer startup BIND snags Amgen deal; Alnylam submits siRNA for U.K. Phase I

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January 9, 2013 Sign up for free: Subscribe | Website | Jobs | Mobile app Refer FierceDrugDelivery to a Colleague This week’s sponsor is Catalent. eBook: Open R&D Big Pharma Start Putting Collaboration Plans Into Practice There’s no part of the business more in need of metamorphosis than R&D, and no one more convinced of it than pharma’s movers and shakers. To read more on this topic click here to download this eBook today. Today’s Top Stories 1. Langer startup BINDs nanomedicine and drug targeting in $180M-plus Amgen deal 2. Alnylam prepares for U.K. Phase I and plans for the future 3. Oramed submits U.S. IND for oral insulin Phase II 4. FDA grants orphan label to eye cancer chemo-delivery combo 5. Agile snags $15M loan to push pipeline products forward Also Noted: Spotlight On… FDA approves EMD Serono-Pfizer’s Rebif auto-injector Oral treatment for cancer uses nanoparticles to reduce pain; Genome-targeted drug gets $18M in Series A; and much more… JPM: For med tech startups, fundraising hinges on proving value Raising money in the cash-strapped world of medical device venture funding is no easy task, as deals are shrinking in size and volume quarter after quarter. But some startups are still hauling in big tranches and rounds for their technologies, relying not just on clinical data and unmet needs but more and more on the economic value of their pipeline devices. Read more >> News From the Fierce Network: 1. JPM: U.S., EU regulators to consider GE’s Alzheimer’s imaging agent 2. Crescendo Bioscience deploys $28M Series D to market RA Dx biomarker test 3. Samsung med device sales spike in 2012 This week’s sponsor is Catalent. Catalent. More Products. Better Treatments. Reliably Supplied. Sponsor: Catalent * Post a classified ad: Click here. * General ad info: Click here Today’s Top News 1. Langer startup BINDs nanomedicine and drug targeting in $180M-plus Amgen deal By Suzanne Elvidge Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn In a major coup for a startup that only turns 6 years old this year, nanomedicine company BIND Biosciences has signed a global and exclusive agreement with Amgen ($AMGN), the world’s largest independent biotechnology company. The deal combines BIND’s targeted nanomedicine delivery technology with an undisclosed Amgen proprietary kinase inhibitor to create an Accurin therapeutic with potential to treat a range of solid tumors. BIND’s Accurins are nanoparticles that enclose a payload of drug within a biodegradable controlled-release polymer sphere. This is coated with a "stealth" layer that hides the particle from the immune system, along with ligands that recognize markers on cell surfaces and selectively target the drug to the disease site. BIND CEO Scott Minick explained to FierceBiotech at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco that the Accurins circulate around the body and then slip through leaky blood vessels to accumulate at the cancer site, potentially cutting the impact on healthy tissue. The lead Accurin, BIND-014, is in a Phase I trial for cancer. The two companies will work together on preclinical development, and then Amgen will take over clinical development and commercialization. The deal could be worth up to $180 million or more for the smaller company, with upfront and development milestone payments totaling up to $46.5 million and an additional $134 million in regulatory and sales milestone payments for the first therapeutic indication. BIND will also get royalty payments on any sales. According to BIND, this is the first commercial collaboration to apply a nanomedicine technology to a molecularly targeted drug, and Minick sees the agreement as a validation of BIND’s technology. BIND is one of the many successful startups spun out from the drug delivery labs of the redoubtable biotech inventor and entrepreneur Robert Langer at MIT. – read the press release – check out the article in FierceBiotech Special Reports: BIND Biosciences – Fierce’s 5 Drug Delivery Companies to Watch | BIND Biosciences – 2008 Fierce 15 Related Articles: Bob Langer biotech lands first big biopharma deal with Amgen Bind touts positive results for cancer-fighting nanoparticles Nanomedicine standout spotlights first human cancer data MIT’s Robert Langer turned out to be a pretty mellow guy This could be the year of nanotech-enabled medicines Read more about: nanomedicine, nanoparticles back to top This week’s sponsor is Catalent. Catalent. More Products. Better Treatments. Reliably Supplied.