Curis inks development agreement with Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Curis (NASDAQ:CRIS) said Wednesday it has entered into an agreement with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which could give the company up to $4 million to support the development of its investigational drug CUDC-907, designed for people with blood cancers.
The drug is taken orally and is designed to stop cancer pathways that are important to the emergence and growth of B-cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma cancers.
Under the agreement, which was announced Wednesday, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will fund 50 percent of direct costs of the development of CUDC-907, or up to $4 million, the company said.
The funds will come from the society’s Therapy Acceleration Program, a program designed to speed up development of therapies that have the potential to treat blood cancers.
"The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s capital commitment to this program, along with their extensive knowledge of hematological malignancies, will be important resources as we seek to advance this promising first-in-class molecule," chief executive Dan Passeri said in a statement.
Currently, Curis is carrying out pre-clinical studies of CUDC-907, and is required to file an investigational new drug application for a phase Ia dose escalation clinical trial in B-cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
The company said it expects to file its investigational new drug application and have patients beginning enrollment in the phase Ia study in the second half of 2012.
If the study is successful, the society has also agreed to support Curis’s subsequent phase Ib or phase IIa study in one or more specific indications, as well as Curis’ ongoing investigation of biomarkers for CUDC-907 for the aforementioned diseases.
In addition, if Curis commercializes its drug candidate, it must make future milestone payments of up to 2.5 times the funding received from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Lymphoma is the name for a group of blood cancers that develop in the lymphatic system. In 2010, about 628,415 people were living with lymphoma or were in remission.
Lexington, Massachusetts-based Curis gained 19 cents, or 5.90 percent, to reach $3.41 a share on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.