08:08 AM EST, 12/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Olema Pharmaceuticals ( OLMA ) said Monday it has launched a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Novartis ( NVS ) for a frontline metastatic breast cancer treatment.

The company said it is ready to launch a 1,000-patient phase 3 clinical trial of palazestrant in combination with ribociclib as a potential frontline treatment for ER+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis ( NVS ) will provide Olema with ribociclib drug supply for the planned trial. The company said all clinical data and inventions from the trial will be owned jointly while Olema will keep global commercial and marketing rights to palazestrant.

Olema said it has also entered into a securities purchase agreement for the private placement of about $250 million of common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase common stock with institutional investors.

Olema said it will issue 19.9 million shares of common stock at a price of $9.08 per share and pre-funded warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 7.6 million shares of common stock at a purchase price of $9.08 per pre-funded warrant.

With the $250 million private placement, the company expects to have sufficient resources to execute a phase 1/2 study of its drug OP-3136, and continue an ongoing phase 3 monotherapy trial.