Horizon Discovery signs cancer drug discovery deal with AstraZeneca

In a second deal announced today (April 22), Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) revealed it has joined forces with UK-based provider of research tools to support the development of personalized medicines Horizon Discovery for an exclusive collaboration and license agreement to explore Horizon’s first-in-class kinase target program, HD-001, as a means of developing novel therapies for multiple cancer types, adding to the accord with BIND Therapeutics for cancer nanomedicines (The Pharma Letter April 22).

Under the terms of the agreement, Horizon will receive undisclosed upfront and preclinical milestone payments, and is eligible for clinical and approval milestones totaling up to $75 million, as well as tiered royalties.

Horizon has recently entered into research collaborations with Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer, both on oncology programs (January 15, and July 9, 2012).