Exelixis, Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb have entered a collaboration agreement under which Exelixis will grant BMS an exclusive license to its small-molecule TGR5 agonist program, including backups. The two companies will also collaborate to discover, optimize, and characterize small-molecule ROR antagonists. In addition, Exelixis and BMS have made minor amendments to their XL281 and liver X receptor (LXR) agreements, and Exelixis has opted out of further co-development of XL139 and will receive an accelerated milestone payment.

The net result is that BMS will make a combined initial payment of $60 million to Exelixis, which will be eligible for potential development and milestone payments of as much as $250 million on TGR5 and $255 million on the ROR antagonists, as well as sales milestones and royalties for products resulting from these programs. BMS will receive an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize small molecule TGR5 agonists and ROR antagonists. For TGR5, BMS will have sole responsibility for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Under the ROR agreement, BMS and Exelixis will collaborate on ROR antagonist programs up to a preclinical transition point, after which BMS will have responsibility for further research, development, manufacture, and commercialization.

For the ROR program, BMS is waiving rights to receive a third IND candidate from Exelixis in the area of oncology. Also, BMS now has an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize XL139, and will be responsible for further development of the compound.

“We continue our strong relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb and are excited for these collaborations to maximize the potential of these novel programs and bring benefits to patients with serious diseases,” said Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Exelixis. “These transactions leverage our discovery expertise with the development expertise of BMS in inflammation and metabolic diseases, and provide important additional resources for us to continue our focus on our clinical stage development pipeline.”