Akcea Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKCA) stock is flying high on Monday following news of a deal with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE).
Akcea Therapeutics, which is majority owned by Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) and Pfizer, has signed a licensing agreement with PFE for AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx. This will have the company paying a $250 million fee for the investigational drug.
That payment from Pfizer will be split between Akcea Therapeutics and Ionis Pharmaceuticals. This will also have AKCA settling its $125 million obligation to IONS with shares of its stock. The deal allows the two companies to get development, regulatory and sales milestone payments from the drug. It also covers royalties for worldwide sales.
AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx is still in development and is currently going through a Phase 2 clinical trial. Following the completion of this trial, Pfizer will cover the costs of future development for the drug.
AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx is designed to treat treat patients with certain cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The market for the types of treatments the drug works with is largely unmet, which means there’s great potential for the drug.
“AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx is a novel therapy that will complement our clinical mid-stage internal medicine pipeline, and we believe that our deep expertise in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases will help allow this program to reach its maximum potential for patients,” Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Worldwide Research & Development and Medical at Pfizer, said in a statement.
AKCA stock was up 31.33% and IONS stock was up 2.56% as of Monday afternoon.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
