MONTREAL, June 10 /PRNewswire/ - Aegera Therapeutics Inc. is extremely pleased to announce the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial of the IAP ("Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein") inhibitor, HGS1029 (formerly AEG40826), as a monotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors. This small molecule IAP inhibitor was developed by Aegera and licensed to Human Genome Sciences, Inc. for oncology development in December 2007. As part of this agreement, Aegera maintains full ownership of all rights to this class of molecules for the Japanese market and global rights for non-oncology indications.
"We are impressed with the research and development teams that HGS has applied to the advancement of this exciting collaborative oncology program. In a very short period of time, their clinical team has advanced this program to its first clinical trial and we are confident that their pro-active approach will lead to the rapid and successful development of this potent molecule across a broad range of cancer indications. In addition, our respective research teams are working very closely together to continue to build on Aegera's IAP expertise and to identify additional back-up and best-in-class compounds to follow the initial lead." commented Dr. Mike Berendt, Aegera President & CEO.
Aegera also announced today the receipt of its first milestone payment under this collaboration agreement. The payment, in the amount of US$5 million, was triggered by the FDA clearance of the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for HGS1029.
About Aegera Therapeutics Inc.
Aegera Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing drugs that control apoptosis to address major unmet medical needs. In addition to HGS1029 (AEG40826), Aegera has three other programs in clinical development:
CONTACT: Donald Olds, MSc, MBA, Chief Operating Officer & CFO, Aegera
Therapeutics Inc., (514) 288-5532 (x)295, donald.olds@aegera.com
