Technology  March 2, 2015

Array BioPharma closes deals with Novartis for pair of cancer drugs

BOULDER –  Array BioPharma Inc.’s deals to acquire worldwide rights to a pair of cancer drugs from Novartis could lead to $1 billion in annual revenue and significant new hiring.

The deals closed Monday, and that anticipated revenue boost is just for the three applications of the drugs that are currently in Phase 3 clinical trials. Those trials look at treating low-grade serous ovarian cancer, BRAF melanoma and NRAS melanoma. The company believes there are other types of cancers that could also eventually be treated with the drugs.

“We expect that longer term the drugs could be worth even greater than $1 billion in annual sales,” said Andy Robbins, named chief operating officer Monday to replace David Snitman, who will serve as executive vice president of business development until he retires in June.

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As part of the deals, announced in December and January, Array (Nasdaq: ARRY) receives worldwide rights to MEK inhibitor binimetinib and BRAF inhibitor encorafenib. Array also receives an $85 million upfront payment from Novartis, and Novartis will conduct and/or substantially fund ongoing and planned clinical trials for the drugs. Array, meanwhile, will pay $25 million to an undisclosed third party that company officials said had to agree to sign off on the deals with Novartis.

Binimetinib is in Phase 3 trials aimed at treating NRAS melanoma and ovarian cancer. Binimetinib and encorafenib, meanwhile, are together part of a Phase 3 trial looking at the treatment of BRAF melanoma. Array is anticipating results from the NRAS trial by the end of the year, with a submittal to the Food and Drug Administration in early 2016 and hopeful approval by the end of 2016. The other two studies are on timelines roughly one year behind that one.

Novartis had to divest the two drugs from its portfolio to gain regulatory approval of its acquisition of a suite of oncology products from GlaxoSmithKline, which included competing BRAF and MEK inhibitors that are already on the market.

“Our goal and our challenge will be to show how we’re different and how we’re better than the other MEK and RAF inhibitors,” Robbins said.

Array’s stock price had risen more than 4 percent by late Monday to $8.23 per share.

Array, founded in 1998, has received most of its revenue to this point from a number of collaborations with other pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The deals with Novartis mean Array will likely be taking drugs to market itself sooner than originally anticipated. Robbins said the earliest the company had previously expected to have one of its own wholly owned drugs to market was by 2018 or 2019.

Array employs roughly 200 people, about 90 percent of whom are at offices in Boulder and Longmont. The company recently opened an office in Boston and has a facility in North Carolina as well.

Robbins said the company hasn’t nailed down how many employees will be added due to the binimetinib and encorafenib deals. But based on other companies with similar drugs, he said he would expect a sales force of 30 to 60 people. Those people would be spread around the country, while a smaller number of marketing, medical and clinical experts would be added at the Boulder and Boston locations.

“(Finalizing the deals with Novartis) puts us in a much more certain position with investors, with products, and with putting our plans in place to go forward,” Robbins said.

BOULDER –  Array BioPharma Inc.’s deals to acquire worldwide rights to a pair of cancer drugs from Novartis could lead to $1 billion in annual revenue and significant new hiring.

The deals closed Monday, and that anticipated revenue boost is just for the three applications of the drugs that are currently in Phase 3 clinical trials. Those trials look at treating low-grade serous ovarian cancer, BRAF melanoma and NRAS melanoma. The company believes there are other types of cancers that could also eventually be treated with the drugs.

“We expect that longer term the drugs could be worth even greater than $1 billion in annual sales,”…

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