Royalty Pharma Acquires Rights to Agios’ Royalty on IDHIFA® Worldwide Net Sales and Outstanding Regulatory Milestone Payments
NEW YORK, NY (US) and Cambridge (MA) June 12, 2020 – Royalty Pharma and Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGIO), a leader in the field of cellular metabolism to treat cancer and rare genetic diseases 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. 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 Royalty Pharma
Founded 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 2011 invested over $5.6 billion in royalties on pre-approval products and committed over $1.2 billion to direct R&D funding in exchange for royalties. For more information, visit www.royaltypharma.com
About Agios
Agios 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.
Royalty Pharma Investor Relations and Communications:
+1 (212) 883-0200
Agios Contacts:
Investors: Holly Manning
Director, Investor Relations
+ 1 (617) 844-6630
Media: Jessica Rennekamp
Associate Director, Corporate Communications
+ 1 (857) 209-3286
