By Mary Welch
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Wyeth-Ayerst Research extended their $90 million, three-year partnership in the area of central nervous system disorders by at least two years. In addition, Cambridge, Mass.-based Millennium provided Wyeth-Ayerst with a third novel candidate gene, triggering an undisclosed milestone payment.
"The extension is terrific and shows that we and Wyeth-Ayerst are quite pleased with the fruitfulness of the partnership," said Sally McCraven, Millennium's director of corporate communications. "We expect to continue helping discover new gene candidates and moving them forward through development."
Millennium's partnership with Radnor, Pa.-based Wyeth-Ayerst dates back to 1996, when Wyeth-Ayerst agreed to pay more than $90 million to discover and develop products for treating central nervous system disorders. Part of the deal is that Wyeth-Ayerst, the pharmaceutical division of American Home Products Corp., of Madison, N.J., is allowed access to Millennium's genomics and genetics technologies, including its Rapid Analysis of Differential Expression (RADE) system for identification of modulated genes and its transcriptional profiling technologies. (See BioWorld Today, July 19, 1996, p. 1.)
At the time of the collaboration, the two companies said they would initially focus on psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and anxiety. McCraven would not disclose what area the third candidate gene is in other than to say that it involves neurological or psychological disorders. She also declined to say how the clinical development of the other two candidates is progressing.
In addition the two companies have an alliance focusing on antibacterial drug discovery that dates back to December 1996. To date, Millennium has delivered eight antibacterial drug targets.
McCraven refused to disclose how much Millennium has received from Wyeth-Ayerst from either collaboration.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals' stock (NASDQ:MLNM) closed Tuesday at $58.937, down 93.75 cents per share.