Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc., announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to divest Sunosi® (solriamfetol), a dual-acting dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor shown to improve wakefulness in adults living with excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) due to narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), to Axsome Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AXSM). Under the terms of the agreement, Axsome will receive the rights to Sunosi in all of the existing territories available to Jazz. Jazz will receive attractive financial terms including an upfront payment of $53 million, a high single-digit royalty on Axsome's U.S. net sales of Sunosi in current indications and a mid-single-digit royalty on Axsome's U.S. net sales of Sunosi in future indications.
The divestiture of Sunosi to Axsome will enable Jazz to sharpen its focus on its highest strategic priorities designed to deliver sustainable growth and enhanced shareholder value. In assessing the positioning of Sunosi in the overall treatment landscape, Jazz determined Axsome would be well positioned to deliver access to this important medication and to maximize the value of Sunosi to Jazz through future growth. Sunosi's consistent positive feedback from patients, HCPs and providers is underscored by its well-established and clinically meaningful efficacy. Importantly, Jazz and Axsome are committed to ensuring that patients receive uninterrupted access to Sunosi throughout the transition.
Wake-promoting agents are most often prescribed by psychiatrists, neurologists and general practitioners. Therefore, Jazz believes Axsome is well placed to leverage its commercial business, which will have highly complementary call points, to drive Sunosi as one of the lead products in their portfolio and ensure Sunosi can continue to reach those patients who may benefit from this important medicine.
"This transaction advances our efforts to deliver sustainable growth, enhanced shareholder value and drive the transformation of Jazz to an innovative, global biopharmaceutical leader," said Bruce Cozadd, chairman and CEO of Jazz Pharmaceuticals. "Jazz will continue to be laser-focused on investing in our highest strategic priorities including our ongoing launches, advancing our pipeline, pursuing opportunistic corporate development and achieving margin expansion. Through our development and launch of Sunosi, the Jazz team has laid the foundation for Axsome to continue supporting people who may benefit from this much-needed treatment. As a leader in sleep medicine and rare epilepsies, with a growing oncology franchise, Jazz remains committed to developing new, innovative therapies in neuroscience and oncology for patients and delivering on our recently announced Vision 2025."
"We are impressed by the clinically meaningful efficacy, unique mechanism of action, positive patient and physician feedback and growth potential of Sunosi, and are excited by the excellent strategic fit with the Axsome portfolio. The addition of Sunosi will augment and accelerate our commercial preparedness ahead of the potential near-term launches of our two existing lead assets and allows us to fully leverage our first-in-class Digital Centric Commercialization™ platform with three complimentary assets," said Herriot Tabuteau, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Axsome Therapeutics.
Sunosi is a dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (DNRI) indicated for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) associated with narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adult patients. Sunosi is the first DNRI approved to treat EDS in adults living with narcolepsy or OSA.
