Business Strengthened In 1995 At GeneMedicine

A key event in 1995 for GeneMedicine, a US gene therapy company, in 1995 was the forming of a major corporate alliance with Corange's Boehringer Mannheim to develop gene medicines to treat head and neck cancers and melanoma, according to the firm's annual report for 1995.

The alliance gives GeneMedicine up to $45 million of R&D and equity financing plus milestone payments. The firm says that the agreement was one of the largest and most creative corporate partnering deals secured by an early-stage biotechnology company in 1995.

Corange has been granted a three-year exclusive option to enter a second, similar agreement for other cancer indications. The two agreements together could potentially provide the firm with more than $100 million in precommercial funding for gene medicines directed at cancers, commented Eric Tomlinson, president and chief executive of GeneMedicine.