Fenwick & West LLP represented Oncothyreon Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTY) in its collaboration with Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) to develop and commercialize ARRY-380, an orally active, reversible and selective small-molecule HER2 inhibitor. HER2, also known as ErbB2, is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is over-expressed in breast cancer and other cancers such as gastric and ovarian cancer. Array previously completed a Phase 1 clinical trial of ARRY-380 in patients with heavily pre-treated metastatic breast cancer which demonstrated that the compound was well tolerated and had anti-tumor activity. Oncothyreon and Array intend to jointly conduct Phase 3 development supported by the proof-of-concept studies.
Fenwick also represented Oncothyreon in its registered direct offering of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase 5,000,000 shares of common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $10 million. The shares were offered and are being sold to Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. and other affiliates of BVF Partners L.P. Oncothyreon intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the $10 million upfront fee payable under the Array collaboration and for general corporate purposes, including research and product development, such as funding pre-clinical studies and clinical trials and otherwise moving product candidates towards commercialization and the possible acquisition or licensing of new product candidates or technology.
The Fenwick transaction team for the collaboration with Array was led by corporate and intellectual property partner Effie Toshav and included technology transactions associate Stefano Quintini. The Fenwick transaction team for the registered direct offering was led by corporate partner Alan Smith and included corporate associate Amanda Rose.