Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to Give Epizyme Inc. $7.5M

According to multiple reports, Epizyme Inc., a Cambridge firm which primarily specializes in personalized cancer therapeutics, is in line to receive as much as $7.5 million in milestone payments from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The payment, apparently, is for the development of the company’s DOT1L-targeted histone methyltransferase inhibitor for Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL) – a blood cancer clot that hits people of all ages.

Reportedly, the funding will take care of Epizyme’s development of the treatment through Phase 1 trials, with a wait-and-see approach being taken from that point on. Epizyme, of course, develops personalized treatments for various forms of cancers and diseases that mostly rely on small molecule inhibitors of histone methyltransferase.

Back in March, Epizyme announced that they had partnered up with Japanese firm Eisai Co. Ltd. in a deal that supposedly had the power to bring in more than $200 million. The deal was based on the development and commercialization of treatments that were supposed to deal with the epigenetic enzyme, EZh4, for lymphoma and genetically-defined cancers.

Also, in January, Epizyme formed a development and commercialization alliance with GlaxoSmithKline in a deal that was estimated to be worth over $630 million milestone payments.