AstraZeneca and BIND Therapeutics announce worldwide development and commercialisation agreement for cancer nanomedicine

Monday, 22 April 2013

AstraZeneca and BIND Therapeutics announced today that they have entered into a strategic collaboration to develop and commercialise an Accurin™, a targeted and programmable cancer nanomedicine from BIND’s Medicinal Nanoengineering platform, based on a molecularly targeted kinase inhibitor developed and owned by AstraZeneca.

The collaboration is based on emerging data suggesting that nanomedicines like Accurins selectively accumulate in diseased tissues and cells, leading to higher drug concentrations at the site of the tumour and reduced exposure to healthy tissues.

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will work together to complete Investigational New Drug-enabling studies of the lead Accurin, identified from a previously-completed feasibility programme. AstraZeneca will then have exclusive development and commercialisation rights, while BIND will lead manufacturing during the development phase. BIND could receive upfront and pre-approval milestone payments totaling $69 million, and more than $130 million in regulatory and sales milestones and other payments as well as tiered single to double-digit royalties on future sales.

“We are excited to grow this collaboration with AstraZeneca, a leading global biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative medicines for patients,” said Scott Minick, President and CEO of BIND. “One year ago, BIND started several feasibility projects with major pharmaceutical companies. Our collaboration with AstraZeneca is the first one completed and had very successful results. Due to the advanced nature of this programme, we now plan to move an Accurin with optimised therapeutic properties quickly into product development.”

“AstraZeneca believes that targeted therapies which specifically address the underlying mechanisms of disease are the future of personalised cancer treatment,” said Susan Galbraith, Head of AstraZeneca’s Oncology Innovative Medicines Unit. “Our oncology teams are actively exploring a range of platforms to deliver targeted therapies, with a strategic focus on unlocking the significant potential of nanoparticles in cancer treatment. We view BIND’s targeted nanomedicines as a leading technology in this field.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About Accurins™

BIND Therapeutics is discovering and developing Accurins, proprietary new best-in-class therapeutics with superior target selectivity and the potential to improve patient outcomes in the areas of oncology, inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular disorders. Leveraging its proprietary Medicinal Nanoengineering® platform, BIND develops Accurins that outperform conventional drugs by selectively accumulating in diseased tissues and cells. The result is higher drug concentrations at the site of action with minimal off-target exposure, leading to markedly better efficacy and safety.

About BIND Therapeutics

BIND Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of highly selective targeted and programmable therapeutics called Accurins. BIND’s Medicinal Nanoengineering® platform enables the design, engineering and manufacturing of Accurins with unprecedented control over drug properties to maximise trafficking to disease sites, dramatically enhancing efficacy while minimising toxicities.

BIND is developing a pipeline of novel Accurins that hold extraordinary potential to become best-in-class drugs and improve patient outcomes in the areas of oncology, inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular disorders. BIND's lead product candidate, BIND-014, is currently entering Phase 2 clinical testing in cancer patients and is designed to selectively target PSMA, a surface protein upregulated in a broad range of solid tumors. BIND also develops Accurins in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to enable promising pipeline candidates to achieve their full potential and to utilise selective targeting to transform the performance of important existing drug products.

BIND is backed by leading investors Polaris Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, NanoDimension, DHK Investments, EndeavourVision and Rusnano. BIND was founded on proprietary technology from the laboratories of two leaders in the field of nanomedicine, Professors Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Omid Farokhzad, Associate Professor of Harvard Medical School. For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.bindtherapeutics.com

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology, infection and neuroscience diseases. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information please visit: www.astrazeneca.com.

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