Orexigen agrees to acquire US rights to Contrave obesity pill from Takeda

After completion of the acquisition, including the agreed upon transition period, Orexigen will hold all rights to Contrave in almost all territories globally.

The companies have agreed to a six-month transition period, during which Takeda will be responsible to continue to commercialize Contrave in the US.

During the transition period, Orexigen will to continue to earn royalties on net Contrave sales and the companies will share clinical development costs as per the collaboration agreement, signed in July last year.

In a separate announcement, Orexigen said Valeant Pharmaceuticals International will commercialize Mysimba (naltrexone HCl / bupropion HCl prolonged release) in Central and Eastern Europe.

The distribution agreement between Valeant Holdings Ireland and Orexigen Therapeutics Ireland includes 12 countries where Mysimba has been approved for marketing in the European Union (EU).

Valeant will be responsible for securing regulatory approvals in the non-EU countries. Orexigen will retain regulatory affairs responsibilities in EU countries.

Orexigen will deliver Mysimba tablets to Valeant at an agreed transfer price.

Orexigen CEO Mike Narachi said: "The acquisition of all U.S. rights to Contrave greatly increases our projected long-term profitability and opens multiple new paths for shareholder value creation.

"The Mysimba commercialization agreement with Valeant for Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey marks solid progress in our strategy to establish strong partnerships for ex-U.S. commercialization of Contrave/Mysimba."