Medarex sets goal of filing INDs for three new products each year going forward

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Eugene, Ore., Sept. 11 - Medarex Inc. expects to file Investigational New Drug applications for three proprietary products each year going forward, according to company president and chief executive officer Donald Drakeman.

The company also expects its partners to file INDs for one to two additional product candidates each year, Drakeman said Monday at the Bear Stearns health care conference.

"We think it's very important to maintain that level of productivity," Drakeman said.

Medarex has economic interests in 33 products that were developed from the company's technology platform and are currently in clinical development. Of those, six are in pivotal clinical trials and five are in phase 2 trials, he said.

Medarex's most advanced proprietary drug candidate is Ipilmumab (MDX-010), which is being studied in three phase 2 clinical trials as a treatment for melanoma. The company expects the first of the trials, a study of Ipilmumab as a monotherapy, to be completed this year, Drakeman said.

Ipilmumab is also being tested in combination with chemotherapy in previously untreated metastatic melanoma patients and as a second-line treatment in combination with MDX-1379.

Medarex is developing Ipilmumab with Bristol-Myers Squibb and will receive 45% of U.S. profits. Medarex is funding 35% of development costs.

Drakeman also said Monday that new partnerships are possible for the company in the near term as Medarex has received interest from additional companies interested in becoming involved with monoclonal antibody products and technologies.

"You might see us do some interesting deals going forward as a way of further leveraging the investments we've made over the years in antibody technology," Drakeman said.

"Antibodies are going to be where the action is for the growth of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries," he said.

Medarex is a biopharmaceutical company based in Princeton, N.J.

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