Boehringer Ingelheim and Priaxon collaborate on novel treatments for cancer

German independent drug major Boehringer Ingelheim has entered into a worldwide collaboration with fellow Germany-based drug developer Priaxon to research and develop mdm2/p53 inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.

Under the terms of the deal, Boehringer Ingelheim will pay significant up-front and near-term payments to Priaxon including research funding to support further discovery efforts. In addition, Priaxon will be eligible to receive from Boehringer Ingelheim some 86 million euros ($123.6 million) in milestones on the achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as royalties on potential future net sales of products.

Priaxon is providing its innovative and proprietary small-molecule drug discovery expertise, which is particularly suited to investigate inhibition of protein-protein interactions, the companies note. p53 is a human tumor suppressor protein. It has been shown that, in tumors with wild-type p53, the restoration of p53 tumor-suppressive functions can be achieved by blocking a cellular interaction of mdm2 and p53. This may reactivate the 'genome guardian' function of p53 and is therefore an interesting approach for treating various oncological indications.