As part of Conatus’s recent acquisition of the Pfizer Idun subsidiary, Conatus obtained a licensing agreement with Abbott for a Bcl-2 inhibitor drug candidate currently in multiple Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials for oncology. Idun had established an exclusive collaboration with Abbott to discover and develop small molecule cancer therapeutics that target the primary components of the apoptosis pathway.
In this collaboration, Idun was primarily responsible for developing molecular assays against targets in the core apoptotic pathway and for confirming that compounds developed within the collaboration operate by the mechanism for which they were designed. Abbott was responsible for the clinical development and marketing of the drugs resulting from the collaboration. Abbott retained rights to the Bcl-2 family of targets through their selection of a drug development candidate.
The clinical candidate is currently in Phase 2 clinical testing as a treatment for cancer. As the selected clinical compound progresses through clinical development, milestones and royalties will be due to Conatus.