Dai­ichi Sankyo lines up a $900M deal for rights to a cho­les­terol drug look­ing to dis­rupt a block­buster mar­ket

While Es­pe­ri­on’s in­vestors have been through a roller coast­er of re­ac­tions on whether or not the FDA was will­ing to ac­cept LDL low­er­ing as a suit­able bio­mark­er for an ap­proval — ahead of an out­comes study — the CEO says that Eu­ro­pean reg­u­la­tors have con­sis­tent­ly nod­ded their ap­proval through­out the de­vel­op­ment process. 

And that’s helped give Dai­ichi Sankyo con­fi­dence to of­fer $300 mil­lion in two pay­ments to li­cense EU and Swiss rights to their late-stage cho­les­terol drug be­mpe­doic acid as Es­pe­ri­on $ES­PR po­si­tions it­self for a Q1 FDA sub­mis­sion fol­lowed up by a quick Eu­ro­pean pitch.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER