1. Medivation forges $765M cancer deal with Astellas

By John Carroll Comment | Forward

In just the latest sign of just how hot new cancer drugs have become, San Francisco-based Medivation garnered a $110 million upfront payment and a milestone package of $655 million from Astellas for global rights to its experimental prostate cancer drug. The therapy, MDV3100, is currently being evaluated in the Phase III AFFIRM clinical trial in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer who were previously treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

Medivation also gets a co-promotion deal in the U.S. market, a collaborator to help foot development costs and a partner who will provide royalties for sales outside the United States. "Astellas is the second major collaboration we have completed in the past year, and we are confident we have the right partners in place for each of our late-stage programs--Astellas for MDV3100 and Pfizer for Dimebon," said David Hung, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Medivation.

MDV3100 triggers cell death in bicalutamide-resistant cancers via three complementary actions: Blocking testosterone binding to the androgen receptor, impeding movement of the androgen receptor to the nucleus of prostate cancer cells (nuclear translocation), and inhibiting binding to DNA.