Millennium, Sunesis Form Deal
Luke Timmerman4/5/11
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SNSS), a South San Francisco-based drug developer, said today it has formed a new collaboration with Cambridge, MA-based Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company. The partnership involves development of an orally-delivered pill that inhibits a cancer target called RAF, and another drug made to block an undisclosed cancer target. Sunesis has received a $4 million upfront payment from Millennium, and will be eligible for as much as $60 million in milestones. The two cancer drug candidates had been part of a collaboration Sunesis first formed with Biogen Idec in 2004, although Millennium acquired their rights last year when Biogen said it planned to focus on neurology.
