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Dive Brief:
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Through a new deal, Biogen has bought access to a potentially first-of-its-kind drug that some doctors and analysts see as a promising treatment for a rare form of epilepsy.
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Biogen on Tuesday agreed to pay $165 million upfront for exclusive rights to sell the drug, called zorevunersen, outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company also agreed to split external development costs 30-70 with the drug’s owner, Stoke Therapeutics.
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Stoke may receive as much as $385 million more if specific development and commercialization goals are hit. Per deal terms, the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company also granted Biogen an option to license rights to certain follow-on products that work in similar ways as zorevunersen. The drug is being evaluated as a treatment for Dravet syndrome, and is currently on track to enter late-stage testing this year, with results expected in 2027.
Dive Insight:
Biogen’s top-selling drugs, which include the rare disease medication Spinraza and a fleet of multiple sclerosis treatments, are no longer the growth drivers they once were. Overall revenue at the big biotech has declined over much of the last five years, a trend it expects to continue in 2025.
Investors are eager for Biogen to add more lucrative products to its portfolio, a task that can be done relatively quickly through dealmaking. CEO Christopher Viehbacher has been in favor of that strategy since taking the helm in late 2022. Under his command, the company dropped $7.3 billion on rare disease drugmaker Reata Pharmaceuticals, $1.2 billion on immunology specialist HI-Bio, and recently tried to buy out its own development partner Sage Therapeutics.
To Paul Matteis, an analyst at the investment bank Stifel, the new agreement is fitting since Biogen already has a foothold in the field of uncommon nervous system disorders. Not only does the company have Spinraza, it also sells the Friedreich’s ataxia drug Skyclarys — the main asset it got from the Reata acquisition.
“Strategically, it's very easy to see why Biogen sees this drug as a logical fit within their portfolio,” Matteis wrote in a note to clients, “and the upfront payment is pretty modest relative to what zorevunersen could sell in a bull case.”
That case, however, rests on zorevunersen emerging victorious from late-stage testing. Matteis argues the odds of success are good. But there’s pressure. The Stifel team spoke to physicians, who were clear that the efficacy bar zorevunersen needs to meet is “very high.”