Royalty Pharma and Zealand Pharma enter $100 million rusfertide funding agreement

Royalty Pharma (搜索)搜索该公司 plc (Nasdaq: RPRX) announced an agreement for $100 million in funding to Zealand Pharma查看公司主页 in exchange for Zealand Pharma's economics related to rusfertide查看药品详情 (PTG-300), a potential first-in-class therapy for polycythemia vera (搜索)搜索该疾病, a rare and chronic blood disorder. The announcement was made on August 12, 2026.

"We are delighted to expand our relationship with Zealand Pharma查看公司主页 through a second collaboration, supporting the company as it continues to advance its innovative pipeline of medicines for obesity and metabolic health," said Pablo Legorreta, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Royalty Pharma (搜索)搜索该公司. "This transaction underscores Royalty Pharma's role as a long-term, trusted partner to biopharma companies as they advance important medicines. Furthermore, we believe rusfertide查看药品详情 has the potential to become a transformative treatment option for patients with polycythemia vera (搜索)搜索该疾病, and we look forward to its continued progress through regulatory review."

"We are very pleased to work with Royalty Pharma (搜索)搜索该公司, a leading funder of life science innovation, on this strategic financial transaction," said Henriette Wennicke, Chief Financial Officer at Zealand Pharma查看公司主页. "This agreement converts a future potential royalty stream into immediate capital that will be redeployed against future growth opportunities in line with our key strategic priorities under our Metabolic Frontier 2030 strategy."

Mechanism of Action and Clinical Profile

Rusfertide查看药品详情 is a potential first-in-class therapy that mimics the action of hepcidin查看药品详情, a natural hormone that regulates iron homeostasis and red blood cell production. By targeting the underlying mechanism of iron dysregulation in polycythemia vera (搜索)搜索该疾病, rusfertide aims to reduce excess red blood cell production and help patients achieve sustained hematocrit control. Rusfertide is administered once weekly via subcutaneous self-injection and has been generally well-tolerated in clinical trials to date.

Regulatory Status

The U.S. FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for the New Drug Application (NDA) for rusfertide查看药品详情 for the treatment of adults with polycythemia vera (搜索)搜索该疾病 in the third quarter of 2026, and Takeda (搜索)搜索该公司 will be responsible for global commercialization.

Transaction Terms

Under the terms of the royalty purchase and sale agreement, Royalty Pharma (搜索)搜索该公司 will provide $100 million to Zealand Pharma查看公司主页 in exchange for its economic interests related to rusfertide查看药品详情, including rights to a 1% royalty on potential future global net sales of rusfertide and regulatory and commercial milestones. This consists of $50 million upon closing of the transaction, with the remaining $50 million due upon the first anniversary of the closing of the agreement. Zealand Pharma will retain the right to a 0.25% royalty on annual net global sales of rusfertide greater than $1.5 billion, while Royalty Pharma will retain a 0.75% royalty on sales above $1.5 billion.

Background

In June 2012, Zealand Pharma查看公司主页 and Protagonist Therapeutics查看公司主页, Inc., entered into a research collaboration agreement to develop disulfide-rich peptides (DRPs). Under the agreement, Zealand Pharma was responsible for preclinical and clinical drug development of DRPs discovered under the collaboration. The research collaboration was terminated in 2014, and Protagonist's payment obligations to Zealand Pharma were clarified in a settlement agreement reached in 2021. In January 2024, Protagonist and Takeda (搜索)搜索该公司 entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement for rusfertide查看药品详情.

Covington, Dechert, Jones Day and Kromann acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma (搜索)搜索该公司. Goodwin acted as legal advisor to Zealand Pharma查看公司主页.