Fierce Biotech announced the closing down of Plexxikon’s R&D operation in South San Francisco, SFGATE reported.
The drug store based in Berkeley was purchased by Daiichi Sankyo for $805 million in 2011.
At present, Plexxikon employed 60 people. It has given approval to a couple of cancer therapies over the past decade. One of which is for rare benign tumors (Turalio) while the other is for melanoma (Zelboraf).
“All employees have been notified of the closing and will transition from employment with PLX,” pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo said in a statement to Pharmaphorum. “The earliest separations will be on March 31, 2022 with some transition by the end of June 2022. Only those projects for which Daiichi Sankyo will continue R&D will be transferred to the R&D division. For other assets, we are currently looking at other opportunities including out-licensing. We do not comment on the detailed projects.”
The decision to close Plexxikon was done by Daiichi Sankyo to change its attention to three antibody-drug conjugates for cancer investments. A couple of the investments will be done by the company with AstraZeneca.
