XOMA buys future milestones and royalties from Viracta

XOMA Corp (Nasdaq: XOMA) has purchased the potential future milestones and royalties associated with existing licenses relating to two clinical-stage drug candidates that were obtained in Viracta Therapeutics’ (Nasdaq: VIRX) merger with US drug developer Sunesis Pharmaceuticals.

Viracta, whose shares dipped 5% to $8.21 on the news yesterday, will receive an upfront payment of $13.5 million and up to $20 million in a pre-commercialization, event-based milestone.

The first candidate, DAY101 (pan-RAF kinase inhibitor), is being developed by Day One Biopharmaceuticals, which recently initiated a pivotal Phase II with DAY101 in pediatric low-grade glioma. The second candidate, vosaroxin (a topoisomerase II inhibitor), is being developed by Denovo Biopharma as a potential treatment for acute myeloid leukemia.