Dendreon Corporation Sells Royalty Rights for $125 Million
Dendreon Corporation recently announced it has agreed to sell for $125 million in cash its royalty interest related to intellectual property licensed to Schering-Plough Ltd. and Schering Corporation (collectively Schering, each now a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc.) and associated with VICTRELIS (boceprevir), a treatment for chronic hepatitis C. The royalty interest was acquired by CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CPP Investment Board (CPPIB). The transaction (at press time) was expected to close in December 2011. The intellectual property related to VICTRELIS was co-developed by Corvas International, Inc. and Schering and was acquired by Dendreon in July 2003.
“The sale of the VICTRELIS royalty interest allows the company to strengthen our cash position and enables us to further invest in our core business initiatives,” said Greg Schiffman, Executive Vice President and CFO.
VICTRELIS, a hepatitis C virus protease inhibitor, was approved by the US FDA on May 13, 2011, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 (G1) infection, in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin (P/R), in adult patients (18 years and older) with compensated liver disease, including cirrhosis, who are previously untreated or who have failed previous interferon and ribavirin therapy. VICTRELIS was approved for the same indicated use by the European Commission (EC) on July 18, 2011.
Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is to target cancer and transform lives through the discovery, development, commercialization, and manufacturing of novel therapeutics. The company applies its expertise in antigen identification, engineering, and cell processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy (ACI) product candidates designed to stimulate an immune response in a variety of tumor types.
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