Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that it has entered into an agreement to transfer the rights to receive royalties on the sales outside of Japan for an investigational anti-cancer agent tazemetostat (generic name) to Royalty Pharma.
Tazemetostat is a first-in-class, oral EZH2 inhibitor discovered by Epizyme, Inc. Under the terms of the March 2015 amended and restated agreement with Epizyme, Eisai is responsible for development and commercialization of tazemetostat within Japan, as well as paying to Epizyme royalties on net sales of tazemetostat in Japan.
Epizyme is responsible for development and commercialization outside of Japan, and paying to Eisai certain development and regulatory milestones, as well as royalties on net sales of tazemetostat in all regions outside of Japan.
In this agreement with Royalty Pharma, Eisai transfers to Royalty Pharma its rights to receive royalties from Epizyme on sales outside of Japan. Eisai will receive an upfront payment of 110 million U.S. dollars for the transfer and obtain the right to receive up to an additional 220 million U.S. dollars upon marketing approvals for tazemetostat in the United States for certain indications.
Eisai positions oncology as a key therapeutic area, and is aiming to discover revolutionary new medicines with the potential to cure cancer.
By the effective use of management resources including the funds obtained through this agreement, Eisai will accelerate to discover the new medicines based on the cutting- edge cancer research, as it seeks to contribute further to addressing the diverse needs of, and increasing the benefits provided to, patients with cancer, their families, and healthcare providers.
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