Five Prime and Boeringer Ingelheim Initiate Rhematoid Arthritis Collaboration
SAN FRANCISCO, California - April 25th 2006, Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. announced
today to have entered into a two year collaborative research and license agreement with
Boehringer Ingelheim to discover novel therapeutic products to treat rheumatoid arthritis and
other diseases. In a multi product deal potentially worth over $75 million, FivePrime will receive
an upfront fee and research support, and Boehringer Ingelheim has exclusive worldwide rights
to develop and commercialize products and targets discovered in exchange for future
milestones and royalties. Further details of the agreement have not been disclosed.
“FivePrime’s comprehensive protein discovery program is providing a wealth of valuable
therapeutic candidates in multiple disease areas. We are very excited to partner with Boehringer
Ingelheim, given their leadership in protein manufacturing, their commitment to biotherapeutics
and their excellent partnering track record”, commented Gail Maderis, FivePrime’s President
and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe that combining Boehringer Ingelheim’s excellence in
product research and development with FivePrime’s powerful protein discovery engine will
increase the likelihood and speed of discovering and developing new therapeutics for patients in
need”, added Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, FivePrime’s founder and Executive Chairman.
The basis for the collaboration is FivePrime’s comprehensive, rapid protein discovery system.
FivePrime’s protein screening library contains essentially all human secreted proteins and their
receptors, including many that are unavailable in public collections. FivePrime screens its
protein library in complex, primary cell assays with a level of precision, speed and thoroughness
previously achievable only in small molecule screening. Using technologies for rapid in vivo
validation of hits from its screens, FivePrime aims to reduce time from idea to an Investigational
New Drug.
Boehringer Ingelheim is addressing the unmet medical need of major human diseases with the
discovery of novel active principles. “We believe that the combined capabilities of FivePrime
and Boehringer Ingelheim will offer new opportunities to discover important disease targets and
develop novel drug candidates”, said Mikael Dolsten, Executive Vice President of Pharma
Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with
FivePrime and explore their innovative protein based approaches.”
About FivePrime
FivePrime is a privately held protein therapeutics discovery and development company located
in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. Its proprietary discovery platform allows the rapid screening of
the complete set of secreted proteins and their receptors in medically relevant, cell-based
assays to identify new biotherapeutics. FivePrime is applying its high throughput biologics
discovery system first in the areas of oncology, metabolic disease, immunology and
regenerative medicine with lead proteins in pre-clinical development to treat cancer and type II
diabetes. Additional information about FivePrime can be found at www.fiveprime.com.
About Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies.
Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 143 affiliates in 47 countries
been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of
high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.
In 2005, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 9.5 billion euro while spending almost one
fifth of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and
development.
For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.
For Further Information Contact:
Five Prime Thearapeutics, Inc.
Jennifer Pratt
Director, Operations and Administration
Tel: +1 (415) 365-5663
Email: jennifer.pratt@fiveprime.com
Boehringer Ingelheim
Julia Meyer-Kleinmann
Corporate Communications,
R&D Communications
Tel: +49 6132 77 8271
Email: m-kleinmann@ing.boehringer-ingelheim.com