Roche terminates PDL daclizumab accord

Swiss drug major Roche says it will discontinue its agreement with US drugmaker PDL BioPharma to jointly develop and commercialize daclizumab for organ transplant patients on longer-term maintenance therapy. Roche made this decision after an internal review of its development programs. The move follows Roche's earlier decision to terminate co-development of daclizumab for the treatment of asthma.

The agreement with Roche will formally end in May 2007, from which point PDL will hold exclusive development and commercial rights to the monoclonal antibody for transplant maintenance, which has shown potential in both that and asthma indications based on earlier clinical trials. In a separate collaboration, US drugmaker Biogen Idec and PDL are also developing daclizumab in multiple sclerosis and indications other than transplant and respiratory diseases.