- ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARIA) today announced that it has completed the sale of its European operations to Incyte Corporation (INCY) and entered into the previously announced license agreement for Incyte to exclusively license Iclusig (ponatinib) in Europe and other select countries.
- ARIAD transferred all rights to its EU operations to Incyte for a payment to ARIAD at the closing of approximately $140 million (subject to customary post-closing adjustments). In addition, Incyte has now been granted an exclusive license to develop and commercialize Iclusig in the European Union and 22 other countries, including Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Israel and Russia.
- “With the closing of this transaction, we have completed a key outcome from our strategic review,” stated Paris Panayiotopoulos, president and chief executive officer of ARIAD. “This agreement puts ARIAD in a strong financial position. It will allow us to focus our resources on our promising R&D initiatives and our efforts to achieve the full commercial potential of Iclusig and brigatinib, if approved, in the highly valuable U.S. market, while also maintaining future strategic flexibility through the buy-back provision for the licensed Iclusig rights.”
- In connection with the closing of the Incyte transaction, the previously disclosed amendments to ARIAD’s royalty financing agreement with PDL BioPharma, Inc. (PDLI), entered into on May 9, 2016, became effective. ARIAD and PDL agreed to amend the agreement to, among other things, include net sales of Iclusig made by Incyte in the calculation of net sales under the PDL agreement and to restructure ARIAD’s option to receive additional funding so that ARIAD may require PDL to fund up to an additional $40 million (instead of the original $100 million) in July 2017, rather than between January and July 2016.
- ARIA -1.25% after hours to $8.72.
- Source: Press Release