In Latest Pivot From Cancer To Rare Disease, Agios Offloads Its Share Of Tibsovo Royalty For $131M – Endpoints News

Nearly two years after Agios sold its oncology unit to French pharma Servier in a $1.8 billion deal, Agios is letting go of its last link to one of its legacy drugs.

Agios announced Thursday that it went ahead and sold its rights to a 5% royalty on US net sales of Servier’s Tibsovo (ivosidenib) to Sagard Healthcare Partners for a one-time payment of $131.8 million. Agios had sold its oncology business, including Tibsovo, to the French pharma back in 2020, closing the sale in early 2021.

Tibsovo targets cancer metabolism by targeting mutated IDH1 enzymes. It is approved for the particular subset of currently relapsed or refractory AML, as well as certain IDH-1-mutated AML patients who are older than 75 years or have comorbidities. Servier also has an OK to treat IDH1-mutated cholangiocarcinoma.

This is one of the latest updates for Agios after former CEO Jackie Fouse – now chairman – gave the CEO slot to former Alexion CEO Brian Goff in early August. Analysts with SVB Securities wrote at the time that Goff is a “good strategic fit for the company’s focus on rare diseases” based on his previous roles at Alexion.

The company had moved into rare diseases after changing from its previous emphasis on cancer, thanks to founder David Schenkein.

A spokesperson for Agios said News about endpoints via email that the company sold the royalty to provide the company with a “good source of non-dilutive funding and additional financial flexibility,” adding that it undertook a “competitive process” to get the best possible value for the royalty.

Agios retains the rights to a potential future milestone payment of $200 million for vorasidenib, a dual inhibitor of mutant IDH1/2 in certain types of glioma, as well as a 15% royalty on US net sales of the candidate. Agios added to Endpoints that said milestone and royalties are contingent on FDA approval of vorasidenib by 2027.

Sagard is one of the capital-for-royalty groups, which work in the same area as Royalty Pharma and HealthCare Royalty Partners. And Sagard has stayed busy, recently paying $115 million last month to Albireo Pharma in exchange for royalties on its only FDA-approved drug, Bylvay, which was FDA-approved last year to treat pruritus in all subtypes of progressive family medicine. intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC).