Ionis Pharma, AstraZeneca advance first generation 2.5 LICA drug into preclinical development to treat cardiovascular disease

"This is the first drug to enter development under our strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca in cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases. We are pleased with how quickly this important program has advanced. AZD8233 incorporates many of the recent advancements we have made in antisense technology, including LICA and Generation 2.5 chemistry," said Brett Monia, Ph.D., senior vice president of drug discovery at Ionis. "By combining Generation 2.5 and LICA, we have generated a drug that has the advantages of both higher affinity chemistry and efficient cell-specific targeting. This combination has allowed us to produce a drug that is substantially more potent than either Generation 2.5 or LICA alone, which should support both a very low dose and infrequent dosing."

As AZD8233 advances in development, Ionis will be eligible to receive up to $300 million in additional development and regulatory milestone payments as well as tiered, low double-digit royalties from sales of the drug.  AstraZeneca will be responsible for further developing and commercializing AZD8233.

AstraZeneca and Ionis have a strategic alliance focused on leveraging antisense technology to discover and develop antisense therapies for cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases.  The collaboration builds on a broad existing relationship between the two companies and is supported by Ionis' expertise in cardiovascular disease and antisense technology and AstraZeneca's drug development expertise and infrastructure.  In the collaboration, Ionis is primarily responsible for creating development candidates.  AstraZeneca paid Ionis an upfront fee of $65 million at the initiation of the collaboration.  Beyond AZD8233, AstraZeneca has the option to license additional antisense drugs upon development candidate nomination and will pay a license fee for each drug licensed plus development and regulatory milestones and sales royalties for each program that AstraZeneca advances.  Ionis and AstraZeneca are also collaborating to discover and develop antisense drugs to treat cancer.

Ionis is the leading company in RNA-targeted drug discovery and development focused on developing drugs for patients who have the highest unmet medical needs, such as those patients with severe and rare diseases.  

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three main therapy areas - oncology, cardiovascular & metabolic diseases and respiratory.

Ionis pharma, astrazeneca advance first generation, drug into preclinical development, treat cardiovascular disease