Isis Pharma Announces $6M Payment from AstraZeneca

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

announced today that it has earned a $6 million payment from AstraZeneca related to continuation of the research collaboration between Isis and AstraZeneca to discover and develop novel antisense therapeutics to treat cancer.  In addition to the research collaboration, which includes three cancer targets, Isis and AstraZeneca are developing two antisense drugs, ISIS-AR[Rx] and ISIS-STAT3[Rx], discovered by Isis and licensed to AstraZeneca for the treatment of cancer.  In December 2012, Isis entered into a collaboration with AstraZeneca to discover and develop antisense drugs to treat cancer. The collaboration combines AstraZeneca's experience and expertise in developing anti-cancer agents with Isis' antisense technology platform to broaden Isis' cancer franchise.  With the $6 million payment, Isis has earned $41 million in upfront and milestone payments from AstraZeneca and is eligible to earn additional milestone payments as the collaboration progresses and royalties on sales of drugs resulting from the collaboration.