Shire and Boston Children's Hospital have formed a three-year, broad research collaboration to develop new therapies to treat rare pediatric diseases.
As part of the agreement, Shire will make an initial upfront payment to Boston Children's and also fund selected research programs.
The duo will primarily focus on treatment therapies, which can be developed in less than three years from project initiation.
Upon the completion of the programs, Shire will have an exclusive option to enter into a licensing agreement for each program while Boston Children's will receive development and commercial milestone payments and royalties on product sales from Shire.
Under the agreement, Shire will also be primarily responsible for further clinical development and commercialization of products arising from the collaboration.
Shire research and development global head Philip Vickers said, "Shire has a deep commitment to patients with rare diseases, and our developmental expertise combined with Boston Children's research capabilities should enable an acceleration of our discovery and development efforts.''
Boston Children Manton center for orphan disease research director Alan Beggs said, ''Partnering with Shire's drug development capabilities represents a powerful combination that we hope will facilitate the development of new classes of therapy to ultimately benefit patients."
