BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

The case for small partners

December 15, 2003 8:00 AM UTC

When KuDos Ltd. licensed the AQ4N topoisomerase II inhibitor and DNA intercalator from BTG International plc (LSE:BGC, London, U.K.) in March 2002, it intended to develop the compound through Phase II before seeking a partner. The company then decided it needed some help, but didn't want to hand off the product to a big pharma company so early in the game. Last week, KuDos licensed North American rights to AQ4N, which is in Phase I studies, to another small biotech company, Novacea Inc.

The attraction of Novacea, an NRDO (no-research, development-only company), was the expertise of its senior management in oncology, according to Richard Onyett, commercial director at KuDos. Novacea's president and CMO, John Curd, was vice president of clinical development at Genentech Inc. (DNA, South San Francisco, Calif.), where he was involved in the clinical development of Rituxan rituximab and Herceptin trastuzumab. Robert Capizzi, vice president of medical affairs at Novacea, was head of clinical research at U.S. Bioscience Inc., where he developed the chemoprotectant Ethyol thiophosphate. ...