Partners
To realize the full potential of our strong scientific base and promising portfolio, we work to form partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in order to generate revenue, access research and development resources and maximize the commercial potential of our programs. We have two major target based partnerships:
Nicotinic Alpha-7 Agonist Collaboration with Hoffman-La Roche
In August 2003, we entered into a collaboration with Roche to develop nicotinic alpha-7 agonists for the prevention and treatment of diseases, in all indications, for either human or veterinary use. We have expanded this agreement several times to increase the resources dedicated to the collaboration and support additional trials for the lead nicotinic alpha-7 receptor agonist, R3487/MEM 3454. In February 2006, we expanded the resources dedicated to the discovery and development of nicotinic alpha-7 agonists and granted to Roche an exclusive worldwide license to our intellectual property on nicotinic alpha-7 receptor compounds, with the exception of R3487/MEM 3454, which remained under the terms of the original option agreement. In both February 2007 and February 2008, we expanded our agreement to include clinical trials for R3487/MEM 3454 in a second indication, schizophrenia.
In May 2008, Roche exercised its option to license R3487/MEM 3454, triggering a $6 million milestone payment to us. We are entitled to future payments upon the achievement of milestones, including a $17 million milestone payment upon the completion of the ongoing Phase 2a study in cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia, and royalties on product sales. Roche is responsible for further development and commercialization of R3487/MEM 3454, though we retain an option to co-promote this drug candidate in the United States.
Both companies are actively collaborating on the discovery and clinical development of additional nicotinic alpha-7 agonists. We are responsible for conducting Phase 1 clinical trials for additional compounds that emerge from the collaboration, and Roche will assume responsibility for later-stage development and commercialization. Roche is also obligated to make milestone payments to us upon our achievement of specified development, regulatory, commercialization, and sales level milestones for compounds that are developed under the amended agreement.
PDE10 Inhibitor Collaboration with Amgen Inc.
In October 2005, we entered into an exclusive worldwide collaboration and license agreement with Amgen to develop PDE10 inhibitors as potential treatments for certain neurological and psychiatric disorders. The terms included an upfront payment, two years of research funding, plus milestone payments for research, development, approval and sales events and royalties on sales, if such milestones and sales are achieved.
In March 2008, we extended the preclinical research portion of the collaboration for an additional twelve months. We will provide preclinical research resources and increased access to our screening technologies to the collaboration, and in exchange, we will receive increased milestone payments upon the achievement of certain predefined development events for the program. In addition, we expanded the scope of compounds eligible for higher tier royalties under the agreement.
Michael P. Smith
Vice President
Business Development
Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp.
100 Philips Parkway
Montvale, NJ 07645
Tel: 201-802-7101
Mike.Smith@memorypharma.com