The Life Sciences team provided legal advice to Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPR) on its collaboration agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TYO: 4578) for the development and commercialization of NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET tablets in Japan, the largest Japan territory pharmaceutical licensing deal in the last 10 years. Both medicines were recently approved in both the US and EU.
Esperion is a pharmaceutical company passionately committed to developing and commercializing non-statin, once-daily, oral therapies to lower elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol for patients with hypercholesterolemia not adequately treated with current lipid-modifying therapies. Otsuka develops and markets products for the diagnosis and treatment of disease in the following areas: central nervous system, oncology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology and cardiovascular. The collaboration advances the commitment of both companies to provide cost-effective, oral, once-daily, non-statin LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering medicines for hypercholesterolemia patients in Japan.
Under the terms of the agreement, Esperion will grant Otsuka exclusive rights to NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET tablet development and commercialization in Japan. Otsuka will be responsible for all development, regulatory, and commercialization activities in Japan. In addition, Otsuka will fund all Japan-specific development costs associated with the program. Esperion estimates this amount to total up to $100 million over the next few years. Esperion will receive an upfront cash payment of $60 million as well as up to an additional $450 million in total development and sales milestones. Esperion will also receive tiered royalties from 15 percent to 30 percent on net sales in Japan.
The Goodwin team was led by Christopher Denn and included Nancy Urizar (Licensing), Sarah Stoiber (Corporate), Michael Brodowski, Duncan Greenhalgh.
For more details, read the press release and articles in Endpoints, BioSpace and The Pharma Letter.