Madison biotech firm expands partnership for cancer treatment research

Madison-based Invenra Inc. and Alameda, Calif.-headquartered Exelixis Inc. announced that they have expanded the discovery and licensing collaboration between the two biotech firms to include an additional 20 oncology targets. The fortified partnership builds on the ongoing collaboration and license agreement between the companies to discover and develop mono-specific and multispecific antibodies to treat cancer. Under the terms of this newly expanded collaboration, Exelixis has agreed to pay Invenra an up-front fee of $15 million, as well as additional fees and funding for the option to nominate up to 20 additional targets in oncology. The expanded collaboration also provides Exelixis with an option to obtain development and commercialization rights to some of Invenra’s future internal pipeline programs.