Nycomed will have exclusive commercialization rights in Europe and other select countries, and Durect will retain full ownership of Posidur in the US, Canada, Asia and other countries.
“This collaboration furthers our objective to become a specialty pharmaceutical company by our retention of commercialization rights in the US, as well as other significant territories, while reducing the cost of funding our US development program for Posidur by the shared funding with Nycomed of a common development program,” stated James Brown, president and CEO of Durect.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nycomed will pay Durect an upfront license fee of $14 million, with additional milestone payments of up to $188 million. The two parties will jointly direct and equally fund a development program for Posidur intended to secure regulatory approval in both the US and the European Union.
Durect will manufacture and supply the product to Nycomed for commercial sale in the territory licensed to Nycomed. Nycomed will pay Durect blended royalties on sales in the defined territory of 15-40% depending on annual sales.