Ot­su­ka calls off multi­bil­lion-dol­lar, CKD li­cens­ing deal with Ake­bia in af­ter­math of CRL

Back in 2016, Ot­su­ka and Ake­bia signed the first li­cens­ing and co-de­vel­op­ment agree­ment for vadadu­s­tat, a drug can­di­date for re­nal ane­mia re­lat­ed to chron­ic kid­ney dis­ease in the US. The fol­low­ing year, the biotechs signed an ex­ten­sion worth more than $850 mil­lion in up­front and mile­stone pay­ments.

Now, the whole kit and ca­boo­dle are no more.

The Cam­bridge, MA-based Ake­bia and Ot­su­ka sep­a­rate­ly an­nounced the deal is off Fri­day, af­ter Ot­su­ka sent writ­ten no­tice to Ake­bia on May 12 that the part­ner­ship has been ter­mi­nat­ed. Ake­bia said in an SEC fil­ing filed Fri­day that the ter­mi­na­tion will go in­to ef­fect in a year’s time.

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