Partner pays Array BioPharma $5 million

BOULDER – Drug research company Array BioPharma Inc. received $5 million from partner company AstraZeneca plc in connection with a lung cancer drug candidate being tested on human patients, Array said Tuesday.

Some 634 patients with a specific form of lung cancer are expected to be enrolled in a clinical trial to test the safety of the drug candidate selumetinib, Boulder-based Array (Nasdaq: ARRY) said in a press release. The drug candidate also is being tested as a treatment for other forms of cancer in other research.

“This is an area of pressing clinical need, and our decision to progress selumetinib was based on Phase 2 results, which showed promising clinical activity in this group of patients,´ said Antoine Yver, vice president in AstraZeneca’s global medicines development unit, in the press release.

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In all, Array could receive $70 million from London-based AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) if the drug is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for commercial sale, according to the release. Array retains some rights to market and sell the drug if it is approved by the FDA, the company said in the release. Drug candidates go through extensive Food and Drug Administration review that can take 10 years or more, according to industry analysts.

Array licensed the rights to AstraZeneca in 2003 to develop and commercialize selumetinib.

Array also has partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies, including Loxo Oncology Inc., a New York-based company, and Celgene Corp. in Summit, New Jersey (Nasdaq: CELG).