Sanofi to get commercial control of RSV therapy nirsevimab in US, AstraZeneca to record $0.7B gain
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AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi) (OTCPK:BIOVF) updated their contracts related to developing and commercializing respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) therapy nirsevimab in the U.S.
Under the arrangements, Sobi will terminate its participation agreement with AstraZeneca, meanwhile Sanofi and AstraZeneca will update the collaboration agreement so that Sanofi has full commercial control of nirsevimab in the U.S.
Sanofi also entered into a direct royalty agreement with Sobi to share a portion of U.S. net sales from nirsevimab.
For regions outside the U.S., the existing collaboration agreement between AstraZeneca and Sanofi continues, the companies added.
AstraZeneca said that under the previous agreement, from the day of the deal with Sobi, it had to provision the risk adjusted value of the discounted cash flow of future payments to be made to Sobi as a liability.
Now due to the agreement, Sanofi will pay royalties to Sobi on U.S. net sales of nirsevimab, and the liability related to future obligations is eliminated, AstraZeneca added.
AstraZeneca noted that will record a gain of $0.7B, which will be recognized in Core Other operating income in 2023.
The British pharma giant added that this does not impact its financial outlook for 2023.
Nirsevimab, a single dose long-acting antibody, is currently under review in the U.S. to treat RSV infection in newborns, infants, and children up to 24 months old.
A pooled analysis from two studies had shown 79.5% efficacy of nirsevimab against lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) caused by RSV in infants.