Royalty Pharma Announces R&D Funding Collaboration With Merck
October 12 2022 - 7:00AM
Royalty Pharma plc (Nasdaq: RPRX) today announced that it has
entered into an agreement with Merck, known as MSD outside the
United States and Canada, to co-fund the development of MK-8189, an
investigational oral PDE10A inhibitor currently being evaluated in
a Phase 2b study for the treatment of schizophrenia.
“We are excited to collaborate with Merck,” said Pablo
Legorreta, Royalty Pharma’s founder and Chief Executive Officer.
“This creative agreement is a great example of how Royalty Pharma
provides innovative, win-win funding solutions and supports
exciting medicines like MK-8189 across the biopharma industry.
Royalty Pharma sees an exciting future opportunity to partner with
Merck and other global pharmaceutical companies on drug
development.”
Under the agreement Royalty Pharma will provide $50 million
upfront to Merck to support ongoing development of MK-8189.
Following Merck’s decision to proceed with Phase 3, Royalty Pharma
has the option to provide an additional $375 million to co-fund the
pivotal clinical development program. Royalty Pharma will be
eligible for milestone payments associated with certain regulatory
approvals for MK-8189 as well as royalties on annual worldwide
sales of any approved product.
“There remains a serious unmet need for new therapeutic options
for patients with schizophrenia,” said Dr. Michael Egan, vice
president, Neuroscience, Global Clinical Development, Merck
Research Laboratories. “We look forward to progressing the
development of MK-8189 by means of this creative agreement with
Royalty Pharma.”
Royalty Pharma is a leader in collaborating with
biopharmaceutical companies to jointly fund late-stage development
programs. The combination of scale and a long-term outlook across
the clinical, regulatory and commercial phases of a product’s
lifecycle positions Royalty Pharma as a unique partner for the
industry.
For more information about the ongoing Phase 2b clinical trial
of MK-8189 please visit clinicaltrials.gov.
Advisors
Goodwin Procter, Fenwick & West and Maiwald
acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma.
About Royalty Pharma
Founded in 1996, Royalty Pharma is the largest buyer of
biopharmaceutical royalties and a leading funder of innovation
across the biopharmaceutical industry, collaborating with
innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and
non-for-profits through small and mid-cap biotechnology companies
to leading global pharmaceutical companies. Royalty Pharma has
assembled a portfolio of royalties which entitles it to payments
based directly on the top-line sales of many of the industry’s
leading therapies. Royalty Pharma funds innovation in the
biopharmaceutical industry both directly and indirectly - directly
when it partners with companies to co-fund late-stage clinical
trials and new product launches in exchange for future royalties,
and indirectly when it acquires existing royalties from the
original innovators. Royalty Pharma’s current portfolio includes
royalties on more than 35 commercial products, including Vertex’s
Trikafta, Kalydeco, Orkambi and Symdeko, Biogen’s Tysabri, AbbVie
and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica, Astellas and Pfizer’s
Xtandi, GSK’s Trelegy, Novartis’ Promacta, Biohaven and Pfizer’s
Nurtec ODT, Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya, Roche’s Evrysdi,
Gilead’s Trodelvy, and 12 development-stage product candidates.
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Royalty Pharma Investor Relations and
Communications
+1 (212) 883-6772ir@royaltypharma.com
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