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Idenix Pharmaceuticals Announces Strategic Collaboration To Enhance Hepatitis C Pipeline

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061026/clth531.html?.v=21

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDIX - News), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of human viral and other infectious diseases, today announced a two-year research collaboration agreement with Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Metabasis' HepDirect(TM) liver-targeted technology will be applied to proprietary Idenix compounds to develop second-generation nucleoside analog drug candidates for the treatment of hepatitis C.
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"We are committed to expanding our pipeline with new anti-HCV drug candidates that could be complementary to valopicitabine, our lead drug candidate being developed for the treatment of hepatitis C, through an active internal discovery program as well as external collaborations," said Jean- Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Idenix. "This collaboration provides the opportunity to apply Metabasis' HepDirect technology to our nucleoside discovery program - a combination that will hopefully yield a second-generation nucleoside analog candidate for the treatment of hepatitis C."

Under the terms of the agreement, Idenix will provide $2.0 million in an upfront payment to Metabasis. If a lead is identified, Idenix will assume development responsibility and Metabasis will be eligible to receive payments upon achievement of predetermined preclinical and clinical development and regulatory milestones. For any resultant marketed products, Idenix will retain full commercial rights and pay Metabasis a royalty on net sales.

My speculation at this time is IDIX continues to see potential with Valopicitabine (NM283) but is continuing to pursue other applications of introducing the drug.