Amgen and BIND enter into roughly $180 million nanomedicine deal

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—BINDBiosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new classof highly selective, targeted and programmable therapeutics called Accurins,announced Jan. 8 that it has entered into a global collaboration agreementwith  Amgen Inc. to develop andcommercialize a kinase inhibitor nanomedicine for treating a range of solidtumors. 

According to BIND, the collaboration will develop "anovel Accurin based on BIND's platform for targeted and programmablenanomedicines and Amgen's undisclosed proprietary kinase inhibitor.  The collaboration aims to create a kinaseinhibitor nanomedicine with optimized therapeutic properties, applying for thefirst time tissue targeting to molecularly targeted drugs."

Under the terms of the agreement, Amgen will havethe exclusive right to pursue development and commercialization of the Accurinkinase inhibitor against solid tumor targets to be selected by Amgen.

Bothcompanies will work together on preclinical development and Amgen will assumeresponsibility for future development and commercialization. BIND could receiveupfront and development milestone payments totaling $46.5 million, as well as potentially an additional $134 million in regulatory and salesmilestone payments for the first therapeutic indication—among other possible payments in the future beyond that roughly $180 million and tiered royalties on potential futuresales.

"BIND's technology is well aligned with Amgen'sfocus on the development of highly targeted and selective oncologytherapeutics," said Dr. Joseph P. Miletich, senior vice president of research and development at Amgen. "We look forward to collaborating with theBIND scientific team to leverage this technology to address unmet medical needsof cancer patients."

"We are pleased to collaborate with Amgen, anindustry leader with a proven track record of success in oncology, on extendingour technology into molecularly targeted drugs, such as kinase inhibitors,"said Scott Minick, CEO of BIND. "Through this collaboration, Amgen hasrecognized the unique potential of BIND's Medicinal Nanoengineering platform tocreate programmable oncology therapeutics that combine molecular and tissuetargeting for unsurpassed selectivity and activity."

BIND's MedicinalNanoengineering platform reportedly enables the design, engineering and manufacturing ofAccurins with "unprecedented control over drug properties to maximizetrafficking to disease sites, dramatically enhancing efficacy while minimizingtoxicities," according to the company. 

BIND is developing a pipeline of novel Accurinsthat hold what BIND feels to be "extraordinary potential to become best-in-class drugs and improvepatient outcomes" in the areas of oncology, inflammatory diseases andcardiovascular disorders.

BIND's lead product candidate, BIND-014, is currentlyin Phase I clinical testing in cancer patients and is designed to selectivelytarget a surface protein upregulated in a broad range of solid tumors. BINDalso develops Accurins in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnologypartners to enable promising pipeline candidates to achieve their fullpotential and to utilize selective targeting to transform the performance ofimportant existing drug products.