Astellas and Aveo to collaborate on cancer drug development

Astellas is to collaborate with Aveo Pharmaceuticals on the development and commercialisation of a new cancer treatment outside of Asia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Astellas will pay Aveo an initial fee of $125 million (77.46 million pounds) for the rights to tivozanib, Aveo's lead product candidate.

The drug functions by inhibiting all three VEGF receptors and could be utilised to combat a range of cancers, with a phase III trial currently ongoing to evaluate the treatment's efficacy against advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Aveo could be set to receive up to $1.3 billion in potential milestones for tivozanib, which will be jointly commercialised by the two companies in the US and EU, while Kyowa Hakko Kirin will handle its Asian distribution.

Masafumi Nogimori, president and chief executive officer of Astellas, said: "We are very pleased to initiate this collaboration to co-develop and commercialise tivozanib with Aveo as it further supports our stated growth strategy of becoming a global category leader in oncology."

This comes after Astellas agreed a deal with Optimer Pharmaceuticals earlier this month to commercialise a new Clostridium difficile infection treatment called fidaxomicin in Europe.