Bristol-Myers Squibb, Athersys extend partnership to develop drug targets

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Jan. 6 - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Athersys Inc. have extended their existing alliance in which Athersys uses its patented RAGE technology to provide Bristol-Myers Squibb with validated drug targets for multiple therapeutic areas, according to an Athersys news release.

The new agreement extends the alliance for up to three years with a guaranteed minimum number of targets to be supplied by Athersys annually. Bristol-Myers Squibb will pay license fees for targets delivered and milestone payments and royalties on compounds developed using the Athersys technology.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Athersys originally entered into a research and development collaboration in January 2001 and then expanded the collaboration in July 2002.

Athersys said that over the course of the partnership, it has successfully delivered multiple drug targets that are now the basis for several active drug development programs at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

RAGE (Random Activation of Gene Expression) is a novel gene expression system that allows protein to be produced from almost any gene without requiring the cloning of individual genes or use of cDNA libraries, Athersys said. The technology can be used to produce cell lines that express individual drug targets of interest.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a pharmaceutical and health care products company based in New York.

Athersys is a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Cleveland that develops and commercializes therapeutic products to treat significant and life-threatening diseases.

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