United Therapeutics will pay MannKind Corporation $45 million up front and up to $50 million in milestone payments, plus potential double-digit royalties for a worldwide exclusive licensing and collaboration agreement for development and commercialization of a treprostinil DPI for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), the companies said.
The deal also includes $10 million up front payment for research outside of the scope of this agreement that MannKind will perform for United Therapeutics and options for United Therapeutics to license other APIs for the treatment of PAH, for which MannKind would receive an additional $40 million upfront plus milestones and royalties for each product optioned.
The dry powder treprostinil will be manufactured by MannKind for clinical studies and early commercial supplies, and United Therapeutics will manufacture the treprostinil long term. United Therapeutics will handle global development, regulatory activities, and commercial activities.
MannKind CEO Michael Castagna commented, “We are excited to partner with United Therapeutics, a company that shares our passionate focus on changing patients’ lives. We are pleased with this new opportunity to demonstrate the value of our drug and device combination platform for delivering therapeutic products. We believe this collaboration will have the potential to significantly improve the lives of people living with pulmonary arterial hypertension.”
United Therapeutics Chairman and CEO Martine Rothblatt said, “On the very same day 21 years ago, we enabled the development of treprostinil into a practical treatment thanks to an invention of the late Al Mann. . . . As we now move into the second generation of United Therapeutics products, we are proud to once again team with Al Mann’s brilliance, this time with his Dreamboat, Bluhale and Cricket devices for inhalation. I believe these revolutionary new inhalation devices will accomplish for Tyvaso what our recently-approved Implantable System for Remodulin, pending RemUnity system and recently-acquired Trevyent product represent for Remodulin – a further step toward a next generation of treprostinil drug-device systems that enhance options for patients, their families and their prescribers.”
Read the United Therapeutics and MannKind press release.
