Drug developer BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has secured $30 million in financing it will use to continue its research and development programs, including a new treatment for gout.
Durham, North Carolina-based BioCryst’s (NASDAQ:BCRX) new, nondilutive financing comes by monetizing future payments from Japanese drug partner Shionogi & Co. The two companies entered into an exclusive licensing agreement in 2007 for development and commercialization of the BioCryst flu treatment peramivir in Japan and Taiwan. In January 2010, Shionogi received regulatory approval for intravenous peramivir in Japan and launched the product under the name “Rapiacta.” In October, Shionogi received Japanese approval expanding Rapiacta’s use to treating children and infants with influenza.
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The new financing comes from a transaction in which BioCryst transfers certain rights under the licensing agreement to JPR Royalty Sub LLC, a newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary of BioCryst. Those rights include the right to receive royalty payments from commercial sales of Rapiacta as well as future milestone payments.
BioCryst’s net proceeds from the transaction are about $23 million. The company said it would use the money primarily for R&D, including development of a compound called BCX4208, which is being developed as a gout treatment.
The new financing follows the recent award of $55 million to take flu treatment peramivir through phase 3 clinical trials. That financing deal came from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, a part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. BioCryst is developing peramivir under a contract with BARDA.
