Medarex (MEDX) Will Receive Milestone Payment from Novartis (NVO) for FDA Approval of Ilaris

June 30, 2009 8:15 AM EDT

Medarex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDX) today announced it will receive a milestone payment of an undisclosed amount from Novartis (NYSE: NVO) Pharma AG, in connection with the marketing approval from the U.S. FDA, to market Ilaris(R) (canakinumab, previously known as ACZ885) for the treatment of children as young as four years old and adults with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, or CAPS, a serious life-long auto-inflammatory disease caused by rare genetic mutations.

CAPS comprises three disorders of increasing severity: familial cold auto-inflammatory syndrome, Muckle-Wells syndrome and neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease. A clinical study is ongoing to evaluate the potential of Ilaris(R) to treat patients with NOMID. In addition to ongoing studies in CAPS, clinical trials are also under way with Ilaris(R) in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and more common disorders such as some forms of gout, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and type 2 diabetes.

Ilaris(R) is a fully human monoclonal antibody generated using Medarex's UltiMAb(R) technology that rapidly and selectively blocks interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β). Regulatory applications have also been filed in Europe, Switzerland, Australia and other countries. Under the agreement with Novartis, Medarex will receive future sales-based royalty payments from the commercial sales of Ilaris(R).

Related Categories

Corporate News
FDA

Stocks Mentioned

Comments

Add Your Comment

Name

Subject

Body

Verification can't see the text?
click here to refresh the image.
what's this?