XOMA acquires royalty and milestone rights for NPC and pancreatic cancer assets
James Spargo | June 23, 2023 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Cancer, Oncology, Xoma, acquisition, oncology
US-based biotechnology royalty aggregator XOMA has announced that it has gained the royalty and milestone rights for two assets from LadRx Corporation.
Arimoclomol is an investigational therapy used to treat Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NPC), an ultra-rare, genetic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder. It has previously received Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for NPC in the EU in 2014 and US in 2015, and was granted Fast-Track Designation, Breakthrough Therapy Designation and Rare Paediatric Disease Designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2020. Arimoclomol has completed a randomised, placebo-controlled, multinational phase 2/3 clinical trial.
The second asset is aldoxorubicin, an albumin-linked formulation of doxorubicin. It is a phase 2 programme being developed by ImmunityBio as a potential treatment for pancreatic cancer. It was awarded ODD by the FDA for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas in 2011, and ovarian cancer, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and glioblastoma multiforme in 2014.
As part of the agreement, XOMA will receive mid-single digit royalty rates on arimoclomol’s commercial sales upon arrival and up to $52.6m in potential milestone payments. If aldoxorubicin is approved for marketing, XOMA will receive mid-single digit to mid-teens royalty rates, depending on the indication, and up to $343m in potential milestone payments. LadRx will be entitled to receive up to $6m in pre-specified milestone payments for both assets.
Owen Hughes, executive chairman of XOMA, stated: “This is a notable acquisition of the economics associated with a therapy that has the potential to address a significant unmet need in a devastating disease. This transaction is very much aligned with our strategy of seeking assets that have the potential to establish new standards of care for patients while driving cashflow generation for XOMA shareholders.”
Brad Sitko, chief investment officer at XOMA, commented: “NPC is an ultra-rare genetic disorder where patients can lose their vision and hearing, their ability to walk and swallow, and it leads to premature death. In the US, there are no approved treatments for NPC. Zevra is actively preparing to file a New Drug Application, as these patients clearly need access to therapy as evidenced by over 150 patients receiving arimoclomol therapy through expanded access. We provided a non-dilutive capital solution to LadRx, which had been exploring strategic alternatives. LadRx can now advance an internal pipeline of new therapeutics to treat patients with high unmet needs.”
James Spargo
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