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Aventis/Regeneron: Validation by Association

In the past, drug companies paid big fees up front only for drugs that had demonstrated clear clinical validation. But in paying $80 million cash up front for Regeneron's VEGF Trap cancer candidate--the highest up-front fee ever for a Phase I--Aventis is relying on data generated not by the compound in question, but by another product targeting the same receptor.

Call it validation creep. In the past, drug companies paid big fees up front only for drugs that had demonstrated clear clinical validation. But now Aventis SA is paying the highest up-front fee ever paid for a Phase I compound with little clinical data of its own, based on Phase III data generated by another product candidate targeting the same receptor.

The molecule is Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. 's VEGF Trap, a Phase I angiogenesis inhibitor being developed for both oncology...

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