Biomira Inc. has announced the signing of amended and restated collaboration and supply agreements related to Stimuvax with Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany.
The amended agreements restructure the agreements originally signed in 2001, and are based upon the letter of intent signed in January 2006. Stimuvax is an innovative investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine designed to induce an immune response to cancer cells that express MUC1, a protein antigen widely expressed on common cancers. Merck KGaA currently is conducting a global Phase 3 trial of Stimuvax in patients with unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Under the terms of the restated agreements, Merck will have world wide marketing rights to and will be entirely responsible for the further clinical development of Stimuvax. Biomira is entitled to development and sales-based milestone payments and a royalty on net sales. Biomira retains responsibility for the manufacture of Stimuvax, including process development and scale-up for commercial manufacturing. Merck will exclusively purchase Stimuvax from Biomira; with respect to purchases for commercial sales, the purchase price will be subtracted from Biomira's royalty. The restated agreements provide Biomira with revised payments based on certain milestones related to manufacturing scale-up and process transfer. Biomira also will receive a payment of U.S. $2.5 million upon clearance of the transaction with the U.S. anti-trust authorities.