Agios and Royalty Pharma Announce $255 Million Purchase Agreement for IDHIFA® Royalty
June 12 2020 - 6:30AM
Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGIO), a leader in the field
of cellular metabolism to treat cancer and rare genetic diseases,
and Royalty Pharma today announced that Agios has sold its tiered,
sales-based royalty rights on worldwide net sales of Bristol Myers
Squibb’s IDHIFA® (enasidenib), as well as its rights to receive up
to $55 million in outstanding regulatory milestone payments from
Bristol Myers Squibb, to Royalty Pharma for $255 million. Agios
will continue to co-promote IDHIFA® and receive reimbursement from
Bristol Myers Squibb for this co-promotion under its 2010
collaboration agreement with Celgene, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Bristol Myers Squibb. Agios also retains the right to receive a $25
million payment upon achievement of a specified ex-U.S. commercial
milestone event. IDHIFA® is an oral, targeted therapy approved by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of
adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia
(AML) with an isocitrate dehydrogenase-2 (IDH2) mutation.
“It is an exciting time at Agios with multiple ongoing mid- and
late-stage trials in each of our core therapeutic focus areas that
we believe have the potential to make a meaningful difference in
patients’ lives. This non-dilutive funding provides us with
additional financial flexibility as we continue to invest in
advancing our robust clinical pipeline, including mitapivat across
three rare disease indications and our IDH inhibitors in solid
tumors and novel combination approaches for AML,” said Jackie
Fouse, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Agios. “Royalty Pharma, a
pioneer in this space, is an industry leader in identifying
promising late-stage and commercial therapies, and we are pleased
with their recognition of IDH inhibition as an important
therapeutic approach for hematologic malignancies.”
“IDHIFA® is an innovative, targeted treatment that has benefited
numerous AML patients who may otherwise have had few other
treatment options,” said Pablo Legorreta, founder and chief
executive officer of Royalty Pharma. “We are delighted to partner
with Agios, a biotechnology company that stands out for its strong
scientific foundation and a track record of successful development
of multiple innovative targeted therapies. The proceeds that Agios
will receive today will help further their mission and fund their
exciting pipeline that will drive the next phase of the company’s
growth.”
Cowen served as financing advisor to Agios and Wilmer Hale
served as legal advisor to Agios. Goodwin Procter LLP, Dechert LLP
and Maiwald Patentanwalts- und Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH acted
as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma on the transaction.
About the Agios/Celgene IDH Program In 2010,
Agios and Celgene Corporation, now a wholly owned subsidiary of
Bristol Myers Squibb, entered into a collaboration agreement
focused on cancer metabolism. Under the terms of the agreement,
Celgene has worldwide development and commercialization rights for
IDHIFA® (enasidenib). Celgene and Agios are currently
co-commercializing IDHIFA® in the U.S., and Agios
continues to conduct certain clinical development activities within
the IDHIFA® development program. Agios is eligible to receive
a $25 million payment upon achievement of a specified ex-U.S.
commercial milestone event, as well as reimbursement for costs
incurred for its co-commercialization efforts and development
activities.
About AgiosAgios is focused on discovering and
developing novel investigational medicines to treat malignant
hematology, solid tumors and rare genetic diseases through
scientific leadership in the field of cellular metabolism. In
addition to an active research and discovery pipeline across these
three therapeutic areas, Agios has two approved oncology precision
medicines and multiple first-in-class investigational therapies in
clinical and/or preclinical development. For more information,
please visit the company's website at www.agios.com.
About Royalty PharmaFounded in 1996, Royalty
Pharma is the industry leader in acquiring pharmaceutical
royalties. Royalty Pharma funds innovation in life sciences both
directly and indirectly: directly when it partners with life
sciences companies to co-develop and co-fund products in late-stage
clinical trials, and indirectly when it acquires existing royalty
interests from the original innovators (academic institutions,
research hospitals, foundations and inventors). The company’s
portfolio includes royalty interests in over 45 products including
AbbVie and J&J’s Imbruvica, Astellas and Pfizer’s Xtandi,
Biogen’s Tysabri, Gilead’s HIV franchise, Merck’s Januvia,
Novartis’ Promacta, and Vertex’s Kalydeco, Symdeko and Trikafta.
Royalty Pharma is also a leading investor in pre-approval
royalties, having since 2012 invested over $6.1 billion in
royalties on development-stage product candidates. For more
information, visit www.royaltypharma.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include those
regarding: Agios’ use of proceeds from the transaction with Royalty
Pharma, developments regarding Agios’ collaboration agreement with
Celgene and Agios’ strategic plans and prospects. The words
“anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,”
“plan,” “predict,” “project,” “would,” “could,” “potential,”
“possible,” “hope” and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking
statements contain these identifying words. Such statements are
subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that
may cause actual events or results to differ materially from Agios'
current expectations and beliefs. For example, there can be no
guarantee that any product candidate Agios or its collaborators is
developing will successfully commence or complete necessary
preclinical and clinical development phases, or that development of
any of Agios’ product candidates will successfully continue. There
can be no guarantee that any positive developments in Agios’
business will result in stock price appreciation. Management's
expectations and, therefore, any forward-looking statements in this
press release could also be affected by risks and uncertainties
relating to a number of other important factors, including, without
limitation: risks and uncertainties related to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic to Agios’ business, operations, strategy, goals
and anticipated milestones, including its ongoing and planned
research activities, ability to conduct ongoing and planned
clinical trials, clinical supply of current or future drug
candidates, commercial supply of current or future approved
products, and launching, marketing and selling current or future
approved products; Agios’ results of clinical trials and
preclinical studies, including subsequent analysis of existing data
and new data received from ongoing and future studies; the content
and timing of decisions made by the FDA, the EMA or other
regulatory authorities, investigational review boards at clinical
trial sites and publication review bodies; Agios’ ability to obtain
and maintain requisite regulatory approvals and to enroll patients
in its planned clinical trials; unplanned cash requirements and
expenditures; competitive factors; Agios' ability to obtain,
maintain and enforce patent and other intellectual property
protection for any product candidates it is developing; Agios’
ability to maintain key collaborations; and general economic and
market conditions. These and other risks are described in greater
detail under the caption "Risk Factors" included in Agios’ public
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any
forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak
only as of the date hereof, and Agios expressly disclaims any
obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law.
Agios Contacts
Investors:Holly Manning, 617-844-6630Director,
Investor RelationsHolly.Manning@agios.com
Media:Jessica Rennekamp, 857-209-3286Associate
Director, Corporate CommunicationsJessica.Rennekamp@agios.com
Royalty Pharma Contact
Media and Investor
Inquiries:212-883-0200ir@royaltypharma.com
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