SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar
Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) today announced that it agreed to
sell to entities managed by Healthcare Royalty Management, LLC
(HCR) its royalties on future sales of ADYNOVATE, under Nektar's
agreement with Baxalta Incorporated, a Takeda company, and
MOVANTIK, under Nektar's agreement with AstraZeneca AB. Under the
terms of the new Purchase and Sale Agreement, HCR will pay Nektar
an aggregate cash payment of $150.0 million by December 31, 2020.
Nektar intends to use the net proceeds of the transaction
towards the funding of clinical trials for its early and late stage
immune-oncology programs. For the nine-month period
ended September 30, 2020, Nektar recognized $30.5
million in aggregate royalties from net sales of ADYNOVATE and
MOVANTIK.
"This non-dilutive financing strengthens our financial position
as we continue to advance our key IL-2 and IL-15 pipeline programs
in solid and liquid tumor settings," said Howard W. Robin,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Nektar. "We would like to
thank HCR for partnering with us on this transaction."
The new Purchase and Sale Agreement with HCR includes provisions
for automatic expiration upon reaching either aggregate royalty
payments equal to $210.0 million by
the end of 2025 or, if that threshold is not met, aggregate royalty
payments of $240.0 million over the
life of the agreement. After expiration, all rights to receive the
royalties return to Nektar. With the closing of this Agreement in
the fourth quarter of 2020, Nektar now expects to end the year with
approximately $1.2 billion in cash
and investments in marketable securities.
Clarke Futch, Managing Partner
& Chairman at HCR, stated: "We are pleased to have had the
opportunity to help Nektar monetize non-core royalty assets as the
company continues to fund the development of its pipeline.
ADYNOVATE and MOVANTIK are mature, important medicines that HCR is
pleased to add to its portfolio."
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as sole structuring agent to
Nektar in connection with the transaction, and Goodwin Procter LLP
acted as special counsel to Nektar. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
acted as counsel to HCR.
About Nektar Therapeutics
Nektar Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with a
robust, wholly owned R&D pipeline of investigational medicines
in oncology, immunology and virology. Nektar is headquartered in
San Francisco, California, with
additional operations in Huntsville,
Alabama and Hyderabad,
India. Further information about the company and its drug
development programs and capabilities may be found online at
http://www.nektar.com.
About Healthcare Royalty Partners
HCR is a private investment firm that purchases royalties and
uses debt-like structures to invest in commercial or
near-commercial stage biopharmaceutical assets. HCR has raised
$5.7 billion in cumulative capital
commitments with offices in Stamford (CT), San Francisco, Boston and London. For more information,
visit www.healthcareroyalty.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such
as: "will," "intend," "continue," "return," "expect" and similar
references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking
statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our
intentions for funding specified clinical trials, the strength of
our financial period in future periods, and our expectations for
our year-end cash position. Forward-looking statements are
neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance.
Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations
and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans
and strategies, anticipated events and trends, the economy and
other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate
to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks
and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many
of which are outside of our control. Our actual results may differ
materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results
to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking
statements include, among others, (i) the extent and duration of
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, regulatory
efforts, research and development, clinical trials (including those
being led by us and our partner), and corporate development
activities will depend on future developments that are highly
uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, such as the ultimate
duration of the pandemic, travel restrictions, quarantines, social
distancing and business closure requirements in the U.S. and in
other countries, as well as the effectiveness of actions taken
globally to contain and treat the disease; (ii) our drug candidates
are in various stages of clinical development and the risk of
failure is high and can unexpectedly occur at any stage prior to
regulatory approval for numerous reasons including safety and
efficacy findings even after positive findings in preclinical and
clinical studies; (iii) the timing of the commencement or end of
clinical trials and the commercial launch of our drug candidates
may be delayed or unsuccessful due to regulatory delays, slower
than anticipated patient enrollment, manufacturing challenges,
changing standards of care, evolving regulatory requirements,
clinical trial design, clinical outcomes, competitive factors, or
delay or failure in ultimately obtaining regulatory approval in one
or more important markets; (iv) scientific discovery of new medical
breakthroughs is an inherently uncertain process and the future
success of the application of our technology platform to potential
new drug candidates is therefore highly uncertain and unpredictable
and one or more research and development programs could fail; and
(v) certain other important risks and uncertainties set forth in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on November 6,
2020. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press
release is based only on information currently available to us and
speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no
obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether written
or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of
new information, future developments or otherwise.
Contact:
For Investors:
Jerry
Isaacson of Nektar Therapeutics
628-895-0634
Vivian Wu of Nektar Therapeutics
628-895-0661
For Media:
Dan Budwick of 1AB
973-271-6085
ADYNOVATE is a registered trademark of Baxalta Incorporated, a
Takeda company, and MOVANTIK is a registered trademark of
AstraZeneca AB.
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SOURCE Nektar Therapeutics