DRI Healthcare Trust Announces Acquisition of a Royalty Interest in Zejula®, Currently Approved for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer with Additional Indications Under Development
– Zejula's multiple pipeline indications offer significant upside potential –
– Transaction builds on DRI's history of investing in innovative oncology therapies –
– Long-term asset with strong intellectual property protection –
TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - DRI Healthcare Trust (TSX: DHT.UN) (TSX: DHT.U) ("DRI" or "the Trust") today announced that a wholly-owned subsidiary of DRI has acquired a royalty interest in Zejula from AnaptysBio, Inc. for a purchase price of US$35 million. An additional milestone payment of US$10 million will be paid should Zejula be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for the treatment of endometrial cancer on or before December 31, 2025.
Zejula is approved by both the FDA and European Medicines Agency ("EMA") as a treatment for both first-line and recurrent ovarian cancer. Additional indications in development include endometrial cancer, HER2-negative breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, metastatic castrate-sensitive prostate cancer, as well as metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, which was submitted for approval to the EMA in April 2022.
"We are excited to announce the addition of Zejula to our portfolio," said Behzad Khosrowshahi, Chief Executive Officer of DRI Healthcare Trust. "Our expanding expertise in oncology products helped us identify a versatile product with multiple pipeline indications that present significant potential sales growth. This accretive transaction adds another long-term asset, providing immediate cash flows to the Trust with significant growth potential."
The transaction entitles DRI to a net 0.5% royalty on worldwide net sales of Zejula by GSK plc ("GSK"). DRI will be entitled to receive quarterly royalty payments on a one-quarter lag based on sales beginning July 1, 2022 and will receive its first payment in Q4 2022. The royalty term is expected to continue for at least another 10 years worldwide.
Zejula is marketed by GSK worldwide excluding certain Asian territories, for all indications except for prostate cancer, which, pending regulatory approvals, will be marketed by Johnson & Johnson. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited markets Zejula in Japan for all indications, as well as Taiwan and South Korea for all ex-prostate cancer indications. Zai Lab markets Zejula in China.
Zejula is an oral small molecule inhibiting poly-ADP ribose polymerase ("PARP") 1 and PARP2. It is approved in the US, EU, Japan and China for the treatment of ovarian cancer in several settings including first-line maintenance treatment. The PARP family of proteins detects and repairs single strand DNA breaks by the base-excision repair pathway.
Ovarian cancer is considered an orphan disease in the US with about 20,000 new diagnoses annually. Ovarian cancer is generally identified and diagnosed at a late stage, since there are no effective screening methods to identify it earlier and the symptoms are non-specific in nature. Primary surgical cytoreduction followed by systemic chemotherapy is the preferred initial management for women with stage III or IV ovarian cancer. After complete or partial response to first line treatment with chemotherapy, patients can be treated with maintenance therapy.
DRI Healthcare Trust is managed by DRI Capital Inc. ("DRI Capital"), the pioneer in global pharmaceutical royalty monetization with a more than 30-year history of accelerating innovation by providing capital to inventors, academic institutions and biopharma companies. Since our founding in 1989, DRI Capital has deployed more than US$2 billion, acquiring more than 60 royalties on 40-plus drugs, including Eylea, Spinraza, Zytiga, Remicade, Keytruda and Stelara. DRI Healthcare Trust's units are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canadian dollars under the symbol "DHT.UN" and in U.S. dollars under the symbol "DHT.U". To learn more, visit drihealthcaretrust.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
AnaptysBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on delivering innovative immunology therapeutics. AnaptysBio is developing immune cell modulators, including two checkpoint agonists in clinical-stage development, for autoimmune and inflammatory disease: rosnilimab, its anti-PD-1 agonist program in Phase 2 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe alopecia areata; and ANB032, its anti-BTLA agonist program, which is broadly applicable to human inflammatory diseases associated with lymphoid and myeloid immune cell dysregulation. AnaptysBio is also developing imsidolimab, its anti-IL-36R antibody in Phase 3 for the treatment of generalized pustular psoriasis, or GPP. AnaptysBio's antibody pipeline has been developed using its proprietary somatic hypermutation, or SHM platform, which uses in vitro SHM for antibody discovery and is designed to replicate key features of the human immune system to overcome the limitations of competing antibody discovery technologies. AnaptysBio has also developed multiple therapeutic antibodies in an immuno-oncology collaboration with GSK, including an anti-PD-1 antagonist antibody (JEMPERLI (dostarlimab-gxly) GSK4057190), an anti-TIM-3 antagonist antibody (cobolimab, GSK4069889) and an anti-LAG-3 antagonist antibody (GSK4074386).
This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "expect", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "aim", "plan", "believe", "budget", "estimate", "forecast", "foresee", "close to", "target" or negative versions thereof and similar expressions. Some of the specific forward-looking information in this news release may include, among other things, statements that we expect to collect our first royalty in Q4 2022 and for the entitlement to continue for at least another 10 years worldwide. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Trust's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those that are disclosed in the Trust's most recent annual information form. The forward-looking information in this news release is based on our assumptions regarding the performance of our royalty interest in Zejula®, including with respect to worldwide sales. All forward-looking information in this news release speaks as of the date of this news release. The Trust does not undertake to update any such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained in the Trust's filings with securities regulators, including its latest annual information form and Management's Discussion and Analysis. These filings are also available at the Trust's website at drihealthcaretrust.com.
SOURCE DRI Healthcare Trust
Edelman Smithfield for DRI, [email protected]; David Levine, Director, Investor Relations, Tel: (416) 324-5738, [email protected]
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