Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has earned a $10 million milestone payment from Biogen Idec for the initiation of studies to support an IND for ISIS-BIIB3_Rx, a development candidate designed to inhibit an undisclosed target to treat a neurodegenerative disease.
 
ISIS-BIIB3_Rx is the third drug Isis is developing with Biogen. Isis is eligible to receive as much as $215 million in additional milestone payments and license fees. Should Biogen exercise its option to exclusively license ISIS-BIIB3_Rx, Isis is eligible to receive royalties on sales of ISIS-BIIB3_Rx. 
 
“Our collaboration with Biogen Idec has been productive and has allowed us to significantly expand the application of our technology to discover and develop drugs to treat patients with neurological diseases. We now have three clinical programs from our partnership. As each of these programs advances, not only will we continue to earn additional milestone payments, but we will also continue to benefit from Biogen Idec’s active participation in these programs, lending their resources and expertise,” said C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., senior vice president of research at Isis Pharmaceuticals.”