Anadys, LG Life deal
ANDS restructured and announced it will return to LG rights to ANA380, a nucleotide analog viral polymerase inhibitor in Phase II testing to treat HBV. ANDS said it believes the HCV market is larger than the HBV market. The company expects to submit an IND in 1H08 for its ANA598, an oral non-nucleoside NS5b polymerase inhibitor for HCV.
As part of the restructuring, ANDS reduced headcount by 30 (33%) to 60 and will halt work on early discovery projects, including its HIV entry inhibitor. The reductions include CSO Devron Averett, who will become a member of the company's scientific advisory board. ANDS will focus on ANA598 and ANA773, a prodrug of a toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist to treat cancer. ANDS plans to submit an IND this half for ANA773. In July, ANDS and partner Novartis AG (NVS; SWX:NOVN, Basel, Switzerland) dropped ANA975, a prodrug of the TLR7 agonist isatoribine, to treat HCV (see BioCentury, July 30). ...