Press Release
January 15, 2019

Goodwin Advises on Six Life Sciences Deals Worth Over an Aggregate of $300 Million in Up-Front Payments

In conjunction with the 37th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Goodwin’s Life Sciences team represented six innovative clients on their industry-leading deals, totaling more than $300 million in up-front payments.

  • Corbus Pharmaceuticals, a Phase 3 clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, announced its strategic collaboration with Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the clinical development and commercialization in Japan of Corbus’ investigational drug Lenabasum for the treatment of systemic sclerosis and dermatomyositis, two rare and serious autoimmune diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Kaken will make an $27 million upfront payment to Corbus and Corbus is eligible to receive an additional $173 million upon achievement of certain regulatory, development and sales milestones. Read more about the collaboration.
  • Esperion Therapeutics, a late-stage a pharmaceutical company, announced its licensing agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Europe (DSE) to provide DSE with exclusive rights to commercialize bempedoic acid and the bempedoic acid/ezetimibe combination pill in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, totaling a $150 million upfront payment and up to $900 million in total milestone payments. Read more about the licensing agreement.
  • Skyhawk Therapeutics, a drug discovery and development company, announced its strategic collaboration agreement with Biogen in which the companies will leverage Skyhawk’s SkySTAR™ technology platform with the goal of discovering innovative small molecule treatments for patients with neurological diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Skyhawk received a $74 million upfront payment from Biogen and may receive potential future milestone payments and royalties. Read more about the collaboration.
  • C4 Therapeutics (C4T), a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of drugs, expanded its partnership with Roche to research and develop new cancer treatments based on C4T’s targeted protein degradation technology. C4T will receive a significant upfront payment from Roche and may also receive royalties and potential clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments totaling over $900 million. Read more about the collaboration.
  • C4 Therapeutics (C4T), a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of drugs, also announced its strategic collaboration agreement with Biogen to investigate the use of C4T’s novel protein degradation platform to discover and develop potential new treatments for neurological conditions, totaling $415 million in upfront and potential future milestone payments. Read more about the collaboration.
  • Codiak BioSciences, a biotechnology company working to harness the power of this cellular messenger system to create potentially life-changing medicines, announced its strategic collaboration agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals to focus on the research, development and commercialization of exosome therapeutics to treat cancer, totaling a $56 million upfront payment and up to $220 million in total milestone payments. Read more about the collaboration.

The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is the largest and most informative healthcare investment symposium in the industry, bringing together industry leaders, emerging fast-growth companies, innovative technology creators, and members of the investment community. Throughout the conference, Goodwin hosted an array of seminars discussing how Hong Kong is an emerging capital markets hub for innovative biotechnology companies, sharing practical considerations for foreign developers when launching a biosimilar in the U.S. and hosting panel discussions on digital medicine and biotech structured M&A transactions.

Goodwin’s Life Sciences practice was named “Practice Group of the Year” for the past two years by Law360, which called Goodwin “a top choice for high-profile pharmaceutical clients, particularly in licensing deals, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings.” Goodwin has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report - Best Lawyers as “Biotech Firm of Year” for five out of last six years. In addition, the firm was named “2017 IP Law Firm of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences.