Thursday, April 26, 2018
Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a diversified healthcare company with core businesses of its CRINONE® (progesterone gel) franchise and fee-for-service pharmaceutical development and manufacturing business Juniper Pharma Services (JPS), today announced an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Daré Bioscience for the development and commercialization of the Company's intravaginal ring (IVR) technology platform, including its three preclinical IVR candidates targeting unmet needs in women's health. Under the agreement, Daré will be responsible for conducting all research, development, and commercial activities for this program.
Under the terms of the agreement, Juniper will provide Daré with an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license to research, develop and commercialize Juniper's IVR platform. In exchange, Juniper will receive a one-time upfront payment of $250,000 from Daré, and annual license maintenance fees of $50,000 to $100,000. In addition, Juniper is entitled to potential future clinical and regulatory development milestone payments of up to $13.5 million and sales milestone payments of up to $30.25 million, for a total of $43.75 million for each IVR candidate. Juniper is also eligible to receive royalties based on future net sales of any of the platform candidates.
"We are excited to have executed on our goal of finding a suitable partner to advance our innovative IVR portfolio, which will allow us to focus our efforts and resources on our core businesses, JPS and CRINONE®, in line with our strategic vision," said Alicia Secor, Juniper's President and CEO. "We are continuing to work with our advisor Rothschild to explore strategic alternatives as we seek to build additional value for our shareholders."
Ms. Secor added, "We are thrilled to be partnering with Daré, an established leader in the women's health space, as they work toward advancing each of our IVR candidates. The Daré team has a solid track record in developing women's reproductive health products and appreciated the potential of the platform to address significant unmet needs in women's health."
"We see great potential in this promising technology with established compelling preclinical results in a model that we believe will translate readily to study in humans and into intellectual property supportive of further development," said Sabrina Martucci Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer at Daré Bioscience. "The IVR pipeline is an ideal fit to our pipeline of innovative products designed to deliver differentiated therapies to women worldwide, and we look forward to advancing these IVR product candidates into the clinic."
