Roche Holdings Ltd. (RHHBY) recently announced a collaboration with Evotec AG for the development of oncology drugs. Under the agreement, Evotec will use its PhosphoScout platform to discover protein-phosphorylations, which will help in predicting favorable dosage and efficacy of targeted cancer drugs in patients.
Furthermore, Roche will conduct clinical trials and evaluate the development of companion diagnostics for the purpose of patient stratification.
Initially, for three years, Roche and Evotec will conduct multiple biomarker studies for therapeutic antibodies or small molecule inhibitors.
We note that this deal with Evotec is the third this month for Roche.
In early June, Roche entered into a licensing agreement with TeaRx Ltd., wherein it granted TeaRx the development and commercialization rights to treatments for patients at risk of thrombosis in Russia and 12 other countries. TeaRx plans to initiate clinical studies with the candidates in 2012. Roche will make an investment in the form of manufacturing the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for early-stage studies.
According to the agreement, Roche will receive royalties on the sales of the drugs in those territories. Additionally, the companies can negotiate rights for other territories as well.
Roche also announced its collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) in June, for the development of a combination drug involving Roche’s vemurafenib and Bristol-Myers’ ipilimumab to treat patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma (skin cancer).
According to the agreement, the companies will conduct a phase I/II study to determine the safety and efficacy of the combination drug. On the basis of the trial results, Roche and Bristol-Myers will decide on the further development of the drug.
We currently have a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating) on Roche.
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