Roche licenses Plexxikon's cancer drug candidate in deal worth up to $400M

Swiss drug major Roche has entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize PLX4032, an investigational targeted cancer therapy, originated by Plexxikon, which selectively inhibits a mutated form of the BRAF kinase gene. Roche noted that the mutant gene has been associated with increased tumor aggressiveness and decreased survival in many cancers and is a common cancer-causing gene found in 70% of malignant melanomas and a large number of colorectal and thyroid tumors, adding that 100,000 cancer patients in the USA carry the mutant gene.