British Biotech (Oxford, UK) stands to receive $60 million, thanks to a deal struck with Schering-Plough (Madison, NJ) in September giving Schering-Plough exclusive rights to develop and commercialize British Biotech's matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors (MMPIs) for the treatment of cancer. Schering-Plough will have rights to market the MMPIs worldwide except in Japan and some Asian territories. In addition to royalties, British Biotech could receive $60 million in the form of a $4 million up-front license fee, a $4 million equity investment (British Biotech will issue 4.5 million new shares), and milestone payments. The company stock price rose almost 14% in response to the news, and analysts say the deal, which should reduce the company's burn rate, validates the new management and goes some way to restoring lost credibility (Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 624). Announcement of the deal followed release of phase III results for study 145 of Marimastat, an oral MMPI, in the treatment of patients with inoperable gastric cancer. Although the 369-patient trial failed to meet its primary endpoint, survival benefits strengthened over time and Marimastat was shown to slow tumor spread and prolong patient lives. Shares in British Biotech rose about 21% in response to the data, an encouraging development after two Marimastat failures earlier this year (Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 212).