Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Royalty Pharma enter $1.1B royalty agreement

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) and Royalty Pharma (RPRX) announced that Royalty Pharma has acquired an interest in Ionis’ royalty in Biogen’s SPINRAZA and Novartis’ (NVS) pelacarsen for up to $1.125B, including an upfront payment of $500M and up to $625M in additional pelacarsen milestone payments. Under the terms of the monetization transaction, Royalty Pharma will receive: 25% of Ionis’ SPINRAZA royalty payments through 2027, increasing to 45% of royalty payments in 2028, on up to $1.5B in annual sales. Royalty Pharma’s royalty interest in SPINRAZA will revert to Ionis after total SPINRAZA royalty payments reach either $475M or $550M, depending on the timing and occurrence of certain events; and 25% of Ionis’ pelacarsen royalty payments. Under the terms of Ionis’ exclusive licensing agreement with Biogen (BIIB), Ionis is entitled to tiered royalties up to the mid-teens on annual worldwide net sales of SPINRAZA. Ionis’ exclusive license agreement with Novartis entitles Ionis to receive tiered royalties in the mid-teens to low 20% range on net sales of pelacarsen. Ionis also retains all rights to $650M in pelacarsen development, regulatory and commercial milestones from Novartis.