Genzyme will pay as much as $1.9 billion to develop and sell a cholesterol drug from tiny Isis Pharma. Isis will pocket at least a third of the profits from the product if it is approved.
Unlike other cholesterol medicines, Isis' experimental mipomersen will be targeted at patients whose high cholesterol is caused by a relatively rare genetic disease. Isis will get $325 million upfront in the form of a $175 million fee and a $150 million investment that values Isis shares at more than double their current value. Depending on how the drug does with the USFDA and other regulators, Isis could get $825 million more in milestone payments. Another $750 million in milestones will be based on the commercial success of mipomersen. Shares of Isis rose more than 50% in after-hours trading Monday.
The two companies will split the profits of the medicine. At first, Isis will get 30% of these profits, but as worldwide sales increase, so will Isis' take. If and when mipomersen hits annual sales of $2 billion, profits will be split 50-50.
Mipomersen is a drug that blocks the function of a gene that allows cholesterol to circulate in the blood. It shows promise for all forms of high cholesterol, but the prospects are best in a rare disease called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). The worst form, caused by having two bad copies of a particular cholesterol gene, afflicts only a few hundred people. Their cholesterol levels can soar to six times the normal level and cause heart attacks in patients who are in their 20s.
Some 600,000 Americans have the more common form of FH, which is caused by a single bad copy of the cholesterol gene and causes levels of cholesterol that are just above the upper limit of normal.
Unlike other cholesterol medicines, Isis' experimental mipomersen will be targeted at patients whose high cholesterol is caused by a relatively rare genetic disease. Isis will get $325 million upfront in the form of a $175 million fee and a $150 million investment that values Isis shares at more than double their current value. Depending on how the drug does with the USFDA and other regulators, Isis could get $825 million more in milestone payments. Another $750 million in milestones will be based on the commercial success of mipomersen. Shares of Isis rose more than 50% in after-hours trading Monday.
The two companies will split the profits of the medicine. At first, Isis will get 30% of these profits, but as worldwide sales increase, so will Isis' take. If and when mipomersen hits annual sales of $2 billion, profits will be split 50-50.
Mipomersen is a drug that blocks the function of a gene that allows cholesterol to circulate in the blood. It shows promise for all forms of high cholesterol, but the prospects are best in a rare disease called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). The worst form, caused by having two bad copies of a particular cholesterol gene, afflicts only a few hundred people. Their cholesterol levels can soar to six times the normal level and cause heart attacks in patients who are in their 20s.
Some 600,000 Americans have the more common form of FH, which is caused by a single bad copy of the cholesterol gene and causes levels of cholesterol that are just above the upper limit of normal.
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