The Life Sciences team advised Onxeo S.A. (Euronext Paris, NASDAQ Copenhagen: ONXEO) in its royalty and milestone monetization financing with SWK Holdings Corporation. Through this innovative transaction, which will open new funding sources for French biotechnology companies, Onxeo received $7.5 million through the sale of bonds entitling SWK Holdings Corporation to receive $13.5 million of future royalties and milestones on sales of Beleodaq® in territories licensed to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The transaction required finding solutions to French regulatory and insolvency law constraints that make monetization structures traditionally used in the United States inappropriate, creating new opportunities for companies based in France to tap into the significant pool of capital available for this type of transaction in the United States.
Beleodaq® is a histone deacetylase inhibitor conditionally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in July 2014 to treat second-line refractory or relapsed PTCL.
Onxeo is a French biotechnology company developing innovative oncology drugs based on DNA-targeting and epigenetics, two of the most sought-after mechanisms of action in cancer treatment today. The company is focused on bringing early-stage first-in-class or disruptive compounds (proprietary, acquired or in-licensed) from translational research to clinical proof-of-concept, a value-creating inflection point appealing to potential partners.
The Goodwin team was led by Kristopher Brown in New York with partner Arnaud Fromion in Paris and associate Catherine Magazu in Boston.