Ann: Notice of Annual General Meeting/Proxy Form, page-37

Here’s a review of deal terms for (predominantly) orphan drug deals executed over the past few years.

2018

Lundbeck acquired Prexton - €100 m upfront and € 805 m contingent on meeting development, regulatory and sales milestones. Prexton’s single asset was still being studied in a Ph2 a trial as an adjunctive therapy to levodopa (used to treat movement disorders in Parkinsons). Prexton’s CEO said he would have preferred to wait for Ph 2 data as successful results at that stage would have lured larger pharma to the table and driven up the price but he chose not to wait as he felt he could not take that risk.


2017

Roche licensed BMS’ drug for DMD which was still in Ph 1/2 trials. Headline value of deal was US$380m - upfront of US$175m, US$205m milestones, tiered double-digit royalties.

Biogen licensed BMS’ Ph 2 ready drug for progressive supranuclear palsy. Headline value was US$710m - upfront of US$300m, US$410m milestones, royalties.

Astellas acquired Mitobridge in a US$450m headline deal. US$225 m was paid upfront with a further US$225 million subject to milestone success. Mitobridge’s most advanced candidate, for the treatment of DMD was still in Ph 1 studies.


2016

Otsuka paid Akebia for US codevelopment and co-marketing rights to Akebia’s drug for anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease, which was in Ph 3 development. Headline value of the deal was >US$1 bn. US$265m was paid upfront - US$125 million in cash, with the rest committed to research funding for the drug candidate’s two ongoing Phase 3 studies.


2015

Roche acquired Trophos for its spinal muscular atrophy drug which had just commenced a 2-3 year Ph 3 trial. Headline value of deal was US$545m – US$139m paid upfront and further US$545m tied to milestones.

Teva acquired US biotech Auspex for its drug for chorea in Huntington’s disease, which had recently successfully completed Phase 3 trials. Headline value of deal was US $3.2- $3.5 billion. Auspex was also conducting other studies of the same drug - a Ph 2/3 trial in tardive dyskinesia and a Ph 1 trial for the treatment of tics associated with Tourette syndrome.

Novartis acquired Spinifex Pharma for Spinifex’s post-Phase 2b treatment for PHN. Novartis paid US $200 million upfront, with a further US$500 million in payments contingent upon clinical and regulatory milestones being reached.

Amicus Therapeutics acquired Scioderm in a US$950 m headline value deal. Scioderm’s sole asset was a mid-Ph 3 therapy for the treatment of Epidermolysis Bullosa, a paediatric orphan disease. The upfront paid was US$229m, which included US$125 m in cash and US$104 m in shares. A further $361 m was contingent on clinical and regulatory milestones being met and another $257 million on meeting of sales milestones. Amicus also agreed to pay Scioderm shareholders the lesser of $100 million or 50% of the proceeds of any Priority Review Voucher received.


2014

Biomarin acquired Prosensa for its DMD drug which had failed to better placebo in its pivotal Phase 3 trial. Biomarin was betting that it could gather sufficient data for approval. Headline value of deal was US$840m - US$680m paid upfront and US$160m contingent on US and EU approval.