Cancer and fibrosis focused drug development company RedX Pharma plc (AIM:REDX) saw its shares rally by almost 29% to around 90.00p a share during Wednesday morning trading, after it announced that it had signed a research collaboration agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:JAZZ).
The partnership has the aim of discovering and developing drug candidates for two cancer targets on the Ras/Raf/MAP kinase pathway. RedX Pharma said that its role would involve it being responsible for research and preclinical development activities up to Investigational New Drug (IND) submission.
Under the agreement, Jazz Pharmaceuticals will pay RedX an upfront sum of $10 million with a subsequent $10 million in the second year, provided research is still ongoing. After an IND-ready molecule has been delivered, RedX will be eligible to receive and additional $200 million from Jazz in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.
For each tier, Red is also eligible for tiered royalties in ‘mid-single digit percentages’, subject to future sales. Jazz will own all of the intellectual property, and will be responsible for the development, manufacture, regulatory activities and commercialisation of any IND-ready molecule.
This new collaboration follows a previous sale of RedX’s preclinical pan-RAF inhibitor programme to Jazz in July 2019. Following the sale, RedX says the pan-RAF collaboration between the companies has been ‘progressing well’.
RedX Pharma response
Commenting on the collaboration agreement, company Chief Executive Lisa Anson stated:
“We are extremely pleased to announce this new collaboration with Jazz, which expands on our already strong working relationship, built through a year of collaboration on the pan-RAF inhibitor programme. This new agreement reinforces Redx’s strong position as a successful research partner and its expertise in medicinal chemistry and drug design. We look forward to collaborating with Jazz on new targeted therapies for patients who need them.”
Further, R&D Executive Vice President for Jazz Pharmaceuticals added:
“We are excited to collaborate with Redx on two oncology programs in the Ras/Raf/MAP kinase pathway. Redx has established itself as a strong partner for Jazz, given the continued momentum in our existing collaboration on pan-RAF, and we look forward to this new collaboration and access to Redx’s small molecule discovery capabilities. We are strategically targeting this cancer pathway with multiple experimental approaches while further strengthening our targeted oncology pipeline. These programs in the Ras/Raf/MAP kinase pathway are highly complementary to our growing R&D portfolio of innovative and targeted oncology therapies.”
Investor notes
Having rallied by almost 30%, the RedX Pharma share price rally lost some steam and settled for a 10.69% or 5.61p jump, up to 58.11p a share 12:30 GMT 09/09/20.
Similarly, Jazz Pharmaceuticals rallied by 4.99% or 6.57 USD, up to 138.27 USD a share 09/09/20.