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ARIUS Research Signs Anti-Cancer Antibody Discovery Deal with Takeda
ARIUS Research Signs Anti-Cancer Antibody Discovery Deal with Takeda.
About this update from Affinity Metals Corp
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nThree-Year Collaboration to look for Novel Cancer Treatments\n\nTSX Venture Exchange: ARI\n\nTORONTO, April 3 /CNW/ - ARIUS Research Inc. (TSX-V: ARI) and Takeda\nPharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) have entered into a three-year, \nmulti-product collaboration using ARIUS' FunctionFIRST(TM) Platform to\ndiscover novel treatments for human disease.\nUnder the terms of the agreement, ARIUS will receive an upfront\ntechnology access fee of US$2.0 million, consisting of US$1.0 million each in\ncash and equity investment respectively, and research funding for the\nthree years. ARIUS will also be entitled to milestone payments based on\nprogress through clinical development plus royalties on net sales for any\nlicensed product. Takeda will assume the responsibility and costs of\ndevelopment and commercialization while ARIUS will have an option to \nco-develop any product. Further financial terms were not disclosed.\nWithin thirty days of closing, ARIUS will complete a private placement\nwith Takeda in which ARIUS will issue 614,737 common shares at a price of\nCDN$1.90 each, based on the prevailing exchange rate of\nUS$1.00 (equal sign) CDN$1.1680 on March 31, 2006, subject to applicable\nregulatory and Exchange approvals. Following completion of the private\nplacement, ARIUS will have a total of 43,660,331 common shares issued and\noutstanding.\nThe ARIUS business model uses the FunctionFIRST(TM) platform for\ndiscovery and development collaborations. The platform has generated over\n350 antibodies for the ARIUS library which are being pursued for internal\ndevelopment and partnership deals. Antibodies discovered through ARIUS'\nproprietary technology have demonstrated anti-tumor activity in animal models\nof a number of human cancers and have been shown to recognize important cancer\ntargets.\n\"Takeda has committed extensive scientific and development resources to\nantibodies for cancer and we are excited by the opportunity to work together\nto bring our products forward,\" said Dr. David Young, President of Arius\nResearch Inc. \"A discovery partnership with Takeda will help us exploit our\ntechnology and achieve secure research funding and support from a premier\npharmaceutical company.\"\n\"We expect that the unique approach of Arius, which is to select the\nfunctional antibodies first, will lead to an improved suc...