Sale of Lexiva and Agenerase royalties will strengthen firm’s HCV programs.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals sold its rights to future royalties on Lexiva® and Agenerase® in the field of HIV protease inhibitors to GlaxoSmithKline for $160 million in cash.
In 2007, Vertex received net HIV royalty revenues of $34.1 million, based on royalties of $48.0 million from GSK minus $13.9 million in royalty fees made by Vertex to a third party with respect to this license agreement. As a result of the sale of future royalties, Vertex will no longer make royalty payments to the third party for these two products.
Lexiva (marketed under the name Telzir in the EU) is currently approved for sale in over 40 countries. Agenerase was the first product developed and commercialized under the collaboration with GSK, which was initiated in 1993, and has been largely replaced in worldwide markets by Lexiva.
“The sale of this noncore financial asset provides us with significant capital and strengthens our financial position to support investment into key programs and future initiatives for our business,” states Ian Smith, executive vp and CFO of Vertex. “In particular, this transaction will provide us with additional capital to support and advance our leadership position in hepatitis C drug development.”
