Zymeworks sings to the tune of $325M with Jazz opt-in for HER2 cancer drug
Zymeworks is capping a rocky year with a committed partner.
After announcing it would dole out $50 million to become the second partner on Zymeworks’ HER2 bispecific, Jazz Pharmaceuticals was met with some questions from analysts around the financing engineering of the deal, particularly curious as to why the duo linked up before a crucial readout of the drug, known as zanidatamab.
But with a 41.3% objective response rate in a pivotal trial in biliary tract cancer earlier this week, the pair will march forward. Jazz is forking over $325 million to exclusively develop and commercialize zanidatamab in the US, Europe and Japan. If the collaborators make it to the end of the album, the payout could be $1.76 billion for Zymeworks, as well as tiered royalties between 10% and 20% on Jazz’s net sales. BeiGene holds the China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand rights to the drug.
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