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- Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) on Thursday said it would terminate its U.S. and outside-U.S. vadadustat collaboration and licensing agreements with Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical.
- Otsuka has agreed to pay AKBA a settlement fee of $55M as part of the termination.
- AKBA stock jumped about ~26% to $0.45 in after market trading.
- Vadadustat is AKBA's inhibitor being developed for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease. AKBA's new drug application for vadadustat was rejected by the FDA in late March.
- As a result of the termination, AKBA will regain the rights to vadadustat from Otsuka in the U.S., Europe, China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the Middle East, among other territories.
- AKBA will also assume responsibility for the regulatory review processes for vadadustat that was previously led by Otsuka.
- Otsuka in May had said that it plans to end its partnership with AKBA for the development of vadadustat.