Ortho Biotech Products, L.P. Terminates License;
BMP-7 Technology to be Returned to Curis for Future License
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2007--Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a drug development company focused on seeking to develop novel targeted medicines primarily for cancer treatment, today provided an update on its bone morphogenetic protein-7, or BMP-7, program for kidney and other diseases. Preclinical research efforts on BMP-7 molecules have been ongoing at Ortho Biotech Products, L.P. since November 2002 under a license agreement between the parties. Ortho Biotech Products has determined that it will cease its development efforts on the BMP-7 program and, on May 18, 2007, provided Curis with written notice that it intends to terminate the license agreement. Pursuant to the license agreement, the agreement will terminate 90 days from this notice, or on August 16, 2007. On the termination date, the licenses granted by Curis to Ortho Biotech Products shall terminate.
Daniel R. Passeri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Curis, said, "We have been concerned with the rate of research progress of our BMP-7 assets since the license agreement was completed in November 2002. While we are disappointed that Ortho Biotech Products has elected to terminate the license, we continue to believe that there is significant published preclinical evidence that supports the potential of BMP-7 as a possible therapy for kidney disease and the related diseases including vascular calcification and renal osteodystrophy. Based on the robust preclinical scientific data and our belief that there is strong patient demand, we plan to immediately begin contacting potentially interested parties for licensure of this program."
Keith Hruska, MD, a Professor of Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Cell Biology and Physiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a leading researcher in the BMP-7 field has stated "Many clinical researchers in kidney diseases consider BMP-7 protein a highly desirable candidate therapeutic for testing in the clinic. This interest has increased in recent years as evidence has accumulated in a number of animal models of kidney disease that BMP-7 not only has potential for arresting kidney scarring, but may alleviate major downstream consequences of chronic kidney disease; namely vascular calcification and bone disease. Vascular calcification (which is linked to kidney failure caused bone disease) is a major cause of death for patients with chronic kidney disease, and developing new treatments that address both chronic kidney disease itself and its deleterious systemic consequences would be of major significance in the clinic."
Mr. Passeri continued, "While we seek to re-license our BMP-7 technologies, we plan to continue to progress a number of promising drug programs. In the coming months, we will continue our efforts around our core programs in cancer. We are continuing our IND preparation efforts on CUDC-101, a product candidate under development as a small molecule inhibitor of EGFR and Her2 kinases as well as a non-kinase Target A. We expect that we will file an IND for CUDC-101 in early 2008. In addition, as we continue to progress CUDC-101 internally, we are actively seeking a collaborator for this program that will enable Curis to retain greater involvement in at least the early stages of clinical testing. Following CUDC-101 is a broad platform of small molecule multi-target inhibitors. We expect that we will select our second development candidate from this platform in late 2007. In addition to these proprietary programs, Genentech is currently conducting a Phase I clinical trial on a small molecule Hedgehog antagonist for cancer and we and Wyeth are conducting preclinical research on small molecule Hedgehog agonists for the treatment of stroke. Wyeth is also independently conducting additional research using a systemically-administered Hedgehog protein as a possible treatment for cardiovascular disease. I look forward to providing future updates on all of these programs."
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