AstraZeneca said today it has agreed to sell rights to its marketed opioid-induced constipation treatment, marketed as MOVENTIG (naloxegol) in the EU and four European nations, to a subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin.
ProStrakan Group agreed to pay AstraZeneca $70 million upfront for Moventig rights in the EU, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
ProStrakan also agreed to make additional payments tied to market access decisions in some unspecified European markets, as well as to pay AstraZeneca tiered double-digit royalties on sales as well as sales milestone payments.
The deal does not include the transfer of any AstraZeneca employees or facilities. AstraZeneca added that strategic decisions on Moventig in Europe will be made jointly with ProStrakan.
ProStrakan focuses its efforts on developing drugs in four disease areas—central nervous system, immunology and allergy, nephrology, and oncology.
MOVENTIG is a peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in adults who have had an inadequate response to one or more laxatives. MOVENTIG was licensed by AstraZeneca from Nektar Therapeutics and developed using Nektar’s oral small-molecule polymer conjugate technology.
“This important medicine will complement our existing breakthrough cancer pain products, Abstral and PecFent, and, through our existing contact with oncology and pain specialists across the continent as well as other planned physician groups,” ProStrakan CEO Tom Stratford said in a statement.
The deal marks the second time in as many days that AstraZeneca has sold partial rights to drugs it deems as noncore. Yesterday, the company said it sold rights to two of its medicines for a combined $500 million.
The transactions raise cash for the pharma giant, which finished 2015 with year-over-year declines in total revenue and “core” or non-GAAP operating profit.
AstraZeneca said its agreement with ProStrakan will not impact its financial guidance for 2016, which calls for “low to mid single-digit” percentage declines this year in total revenue and core earnings per share.
“This agreement is in line with our strategy to focus our resources within our three main therapy areas while unlocking value from the important medicines in our portfolio,” added Luke Miels, evp, global product and portfolio strategy for AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca’s therapeutic areas are cardiovascular and metabolic disease, oncology, and respiratory, inflammation, and autoimmunity diseases. MOVENTIG is within the company’s infection, neuroscience, and gastrointestinal specialties.
MOVENTIG is marketed under that name in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Nordic region. In the U.S., MOVENTIG is co-marketed as MOVANTIK by AstraZeneca and commercialization partner Daiichi Sankyo.
Last year, MOVENTIG and MOVANTIK generated a combined $29 million in product sales worldwide. Europe accounted for just $1 million of that total, with the remaining $28 million coming from the U.S.
