NEW YORK and WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Royalty Pharma plc (Nasdaq: RPRX) and Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NERV) today announced that Royalty Pharma will acquire Minerva’s royalty interest in seltorexant for an upfront payment of $60 million and up to $95 million in additional milestone payments. The additional payments to Minerva will be contingent on the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones.
Seltorexant is currently in Phase 3 development for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) with insomnia symptoms by Janssen Pharmaceutica, N.V., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
“We are very pleased to have entered into this agreement with Royalty Pharma, the leader in acquiring pharmaceutical royalties across the life sciences industry,” said Dr. Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Minerva. “The proceeds will be used to fund continued development of roluperidone, the Company’s proprietary lead compound, which is in Phase 3 development to treat negative symptoms in schizophrenia.”
“We are delighted to partner with Minerva,” said Pablo Legorreta, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Royalty Pharma. “Based on seltorexant’s differentiated mechanism of action and robust clinical evidence to date, we are excited by the therapy’s emerging profile and the opportunity it may bring to address a significant unmet need for the millions of patients with major depressive disorder with insomnia symptoms.”
Minerva Neurosciences is entitled to a mid-single digit royalty on worldwide net sales of seltorexant.
Cooley acted as legal advisors to Minerva Neurosciences on the transaction. Goodwin Procter, Dechert and Maiwald acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma on the transaction.
About Royalty Pharma plc
Founded in 1996, Royalty Pharma is the largest buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and a leading funder of innovation across the biopharmaceutical industry, collaborating with innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and not-for-profits through small and mid-cap biotechnology companies to leading global pharmaceutical companies. Royalty Pharma has assembled a portfolio of royalties which entitles it to payments based directly on the top-line sales of many of the industry’s leading therapies. Royalty Pharma funds innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry both directly and indirectly - directly when it partners with companies to co-fund late-stage clinical trials and new product launches in exchange for future royalties, and indirectly when it acquires existing royalties from the original innovators. Royalty Pharma’s current portfolio includes royalties on more than 45 commercial products, including AbbVie and J&J’s Imbruvica, Astellas and Pfizer’s Xtandi, Biogen’s Tysabri, Gilead’s HIV franchise, Merck’s Januvia, Novartis’ Promacta, and Vertex’s Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko and Trikafta, and five development-stage product candidates. For more information, visit www.royaltypharma.com.
About Minerva Neurosciences
Minerva’s portfolio of compounds includes: roluperidone (MIN-101), in clinical development for schizophrenia, and MIN-301, in pre-clinical development for Parkinson’s disease. Minerva’s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “NERV.” For more information, please visit www.minervaneurosciences.com.
