Isis receives $10 million from Biogen Idec to initiate IND-supporting studies of ISIS-BIIB3 Rx

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIS) announced today that it has earned a $10 million milestone payment from Biogen Idec related to the initiation of investigational new drug (IND)-supporting studies of ISIS-BIIB3_Rx. ISIS-BIIB3_Rx is a recently identified development candidate designed to inhibit an undisclosed target to treat a neurodegenerative disease.

"Our collaboration with Biogen Idec has been productive and has allowed us to significantly expand the application of our technology to discover and develop drugs to treat patients with neurological diseases. We now have three clinical programs from our partnership. As each of these programs advances, not only will we continue to earn additional milestone payments, but we will also continue to benefit from Biogen Idec's active participation in these programs, lending their resources and expertise," said C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., senior vice president of research at Isis Pharmaceuticals. "Our neurological disease franchise has grown to four drugs in less than two years. Our ability to rapidly create a franchise of novel drugs in a brand new therapeutic area highlights the efficiency of our antisense technology and the competitive advantage our technology can provide."

ISIS-BIIB3_Rx is the third drug Isis is developing with Biogen Idec. As ISIS-BIIB3_Rx advances in development, Isis is eligible to receive up to $215 million in additional milestone payments and license fee. In addition, if Biogen Idec elects to exercise its option to exclusively license ISIS-BIIB3_Rx, Isis is eligible to receive double-digit royalties from sales of ISIS-BIIB3_Rx.