At the 2008 ACS Fall National Meeting, chemist M. E. Jung and his research group at UCLA, along with oncologist C. L. Sawyers, reported a new drug called RD162 that聽. RD162 is one of a then-new class of prostate cancer drugs that targets the androgen receptor.
Under a 2005 agreement with UCLA, San Francisco drug company Medivation licensed and developed an analogue of RD162 that they called MCV3100. In 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration approved MCV3100 for treating prostate cancer under the generic name enzalutamide. Medivation markets the drug under the trade name Xtandi.
Nice story, right? But it has a nasty side. In 2009, Jung and Sawyers formed Aragon Pharmaceuticals to develop similar molecules not licensed to Medivation. The drug company sued UCLA on the grounds that it wasn鈥檛 offered the nonlicensed compounds; but in 2012, a judge decided in UCLA鈥檚 favor.
But wait, there鈥檚 more. In April 2014,聽, claiming that the 2005 agreement entitles the university to 10% of the 鈥渙perating profits鈥� from Xtandi. Medivation denied the claim and says it intends to contest it vigorously. And the beat goes on.
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