Sanofi-Aventis enters licensing agreement with Exelixis

Sanofi-Aventis is to pay Exelixis an upfront fee as part of a licensing agreement.

Under the terms of the arrangement, the former will have exclusive rights to XL147 – an oral PI3K inhibitor – and XL765 – an oral dual inhibitor of PI3K and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin).

As well as receiving an initial fee, Exelixis will gain development and regulatory milestone payments ? which could reach over $1 billion (0.627 billion pounds) ? and royalties, once the products are commercialised.

March Cluzel, senior vice-president of Sanofi-Aventis’ research and development department, said the alliance is in line with company’s goal of delivering new medications.

He said: “We are very excited about integrating such novel targeted therapies with high therapeutic potential in our portfolio.”

“We look forward to combining our efforts with Exelixis to develop innovative drugs in the best interest of patients suffering from cancers.”

Earlier this month, Sanofi-Aventis and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative singed a deal to develop, manufacture and distribute a human African trypanosomiasis drug fexinidazole.