Foundation Medicine and H3 Biomedicine Sign Oncology Agreement
By Bio-IT World Staff
February 23, 2015 | Foundation Medicine and H3 Biomedicine announced a multi-year collaboration today for the discovery and development of precision medicines in oncology. The collaboration marries Foundation Medicine’s comprehensive genomic knowledgebase of more than 35,000 genomic profiles, FoundationCORE, with H3 Biomedicine’s drug discovery engine and computational biology platform. The approach aims to identify potential drug targets based on the unique genomic dependencies of individual cancers, rapidly accelerate clinical development, and lead to the commercialization of new, safe and effective precision medicines for individuals living with cancer.
“Large-scale genomic data sets are the key to identifying actionable targets and addressing the multitude of difficult-to-treat cancers,” said Markus Warmuth, M.D., president and chief executive officer of H3 Biomedicine in a press release. “More than ever before, we in cancer drug development have the benefit of an ever-growing arsenal of genomic information including publicly available data sets that inform validation of targets, development of therapies and translation from bench to bedside. In this regard, we believe Foundation Medicine offers one of the most comprehensive cancer genomics knowledgebases available. This collaborative effort will further empower our state-of-the-art discovery engines to deliver novel first-in-class medicines and improve our clinical development strategies by accessing a wealth of clinically annotated, genomic information at least in part derived from later-stage and metastatic cancers.”
“This collaboration with H3 Biomedicine shows how Foundation Medicine is creating value through FoundationCORE,” said Michael J. Pellini, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Foundation Medicine in the statement. “Recent scientific advances identifying the unique molecular drivers of cancer are elucidating new approaches to targeted drug development. FoundationCORE, our unique and rapidly growing genomic knowledgebase, can provide valuable insights for our life sciences partners and help them accelerate and increase the probability of success for clinical development of new targeted therapies for patients with cancer.”
Under the terms of the agreement, H3 Biomedicine will pay Foundation Medicine a technology access fee for identification of target concepts arising from FoundationCORE and success milestones for selection, validation, clinical progression, and commercialization of products developed from the program. In addition, Foundation Medicine is eligible to receive royalties on sales of any products resulting from the collaboration.