Royalty Pharma to Acquire Frexalimab Royalties, Milestones for $525 Million in Cash

Royalty Pharma (RPRX) said Thursday it will acquire the royalties and milestones on frexalimab owned by ImmuNext for about $525 million in cash.

Frexalimab, in development by Sanofi (SNY), is being evaluated in three phase 3 clinical studies as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the central nervous system.

ImmuNext is entitled to receive an upward tiering net royalty ranging from a high-single digit to low-double digit percentage of global net sales of frexalimab under a licensing deal with Sanofi, according to Royalty Pharma.

Royalty Pharma said it will receive the entire net royalties on annual worldwide net sales of frexalimab of up to $2 billion and share a minority of the royalties above that threshold with ImmuNext shareholders. The acquisition will also include "substantial" potential milestone payments from Sanofi, the company added.

Royalty Pharma expects the deal to close later this month.

The company's shares were up 1.9% in recent trading.