anticipated announcements - q1 2012, page-11

For new holders in regards to Afandin story on ATL1101 for prostate cancer, here is a recap from Biotech Daily|

ANTISENSE THERAPEUTICS
Antisense and the private consultancy Afandin will collaborate to raise funds to take ATL1101 into phase I/II prostate cancer clinical trials.
Antisense said it had an agreement for an option to licence its antisense compound ATL1101 for cancer to Afandin Pty Ltd, a privately-owned Melbourne-based consultancy founded by Verva chairman and former Meditech chief executive officer Dr Ian Nisbet and former head of corporate development at Meditech, Metabolic and Xenome, Dr Anthony Filippis.
Antisense said that the Afandin option to licence ATL1101 to further develop and commercialize its cancer applications was subject to Afandin securing funding within six months and that funding would take ATL1101 into a phase I/II clinical trial in prostate cancer patients.
Dr Filippis told Biotech Daily that Afandin hoped to raise funds to cover the initial costs of clinical trials and would create a new company to hold the intellectual property and manage the trials.
Antisense chief executive officer Mark Diamond told Biotech Daily that Antisense would have “a significant equity position” in the new company if Afandin was able to raise the funds and licence ATL1101.
Dr Nisbet is also the former chief executive officer of Xenome, whose directors include Queensland Biotechnology Fund’s Dr Cherrell Hirst and GBS Venture’s Dr Andrew Baker and Dr Brigitte Smith.
Verva was spun-out from Chemgenex, which was also associated with GBS Ventures. Antisense said that both Dr Nisbet and Dr Filippis were ”highly experienced biotechnology business executives with a strong track record in cancer drug development and commercialization”.
The company said ATL1101 targeted the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) and had shown to suppress human prostate tumor growth in mice (BD: Oct 15, 2008). Antisense said that IGF-IR inhibition was known to suppress the growth of a variety of tumors, making ATL1101 a potential treatment for a range of different cancer types.
The company said that if the required funds were raised and the option exercised to licence ATL1101, a new corporate entity would be created that would be co-owned by the two companies and managed by Afandin.
In return for the licence to ATL1101, Antisense would receive a significant equity stake in the new entity and will also receive a significant percentage of the commercialization benefits including a percentage of any future licencing income received and a percentage of the royalties on ATL1101 sales.
The company said the arrangement allowed for the further development of ATL1101 by a team experienced in oncology clinical drug development while providing non-dilutive funding for the project.
“The blocking of IGF-1R is an exciting approach for the treatment of cancer,” Dr Filippis said. “The team at Antisense Therapeutics has developed a high quality pre-clinical data package for ATL1101 and we look forward to the opportunity of progressing the drug into the clinic,” Dr Filippis said.
Mr Diamond said the deal allowed Antisense to focus its resources on its growth hormone receptor targeting drug ATL1103 which has moved into clinical development, while providing the potential to derive value from the ATL1101 asset”.