Regeneron to receive US$42.75m from Novartis
Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals says that Novartis Pharma has agreed to pay Regeneron US$$42.75m to satisfy its obligation to fund development costs for the Interleukin-1 (IL-1) Trap for the nine month period following notification of Novartis' decision to forgo its right to jointly develop the IL-1 Trap and for the two months prior to that notice.
Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals says that Novartis Pharma has agreed to pay Regeneron US$$42.75m to satisfy its obligation to fund development costs for the Interleukin-1 (IL-1) Trap for the nine month period following notification of Novartis' decision to forgo its right to jointly develop the IL-1 Trap and for the two months prior to that notice.
A payment of $34.25m has been received, and a second payment of $8.5m will be made. In addition, Novartis forgave all its outstanding loans to Regeneron based on Regeneron's achieving a development milestone, as contemplated in the collaboration agreement entered into by the two companies in March 2003.
The companies agreed that their collaboration with respect to the IL-1 Trap would end on April 15, 2004 and all rights to the IL-1 Trap will then revert to Regeneron. Regeneron and Novartis each retain rights under their agreement to elect to collaborate in the future on the development and commercialization of certain other IL-1 antagonists.
Regeneron plans to initiate a Phase IIb study of the IL-1 Trap in patients with rheumatoid arthritis later in 2004. It also intends to conduct studies of the IL-1 Trap in a variety of other inflammatory diseases where interleukin-1 is believed to play a critical role.