Sonus Pharmaceuticals said today it has agreed to pay $450,000 upfront, plus future milestones and royalty payments, to obtain an exclusive license from Bayer to develop a family of drugs currently in animal testing. The compounds, caspase activators, are small molecules that can trigger cell suicide in cancer cells. Bothell, WA-based Sonus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SNUS]]) has agreed to merge with Vancouver, BC-based OncoGenex Technologies, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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