Aug. 24 Quick Takes: Ferring banks $300M up front in Royalty Pharma deal

Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) is paying $300 million up front for a royalty stream associated with bladder cancer treatment Adstiladrin nadofaragene firadenovec from Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S. The firm will receive a 5.1% royalty until Ferring achieves a manufacturing milestone, expected in 2025; the pharma is to then receive a $200 million milestone payment, and the royalty stream is to increase to 8.0%. FDA has approved Adstiladrin to treat Bacillus Calmette-Guérin-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. The therapy, which uses an adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) vector to deliver interferon alfa-2b, was controlled by FerGene Inc., an entity set up by Ferring and Blackstone Life Sciences; Ferring assumed control of the program last year, and the partners restructured their deal.

Neurology company Aprinoia Therapeutics Inc. will not proceed with a plan to go public via a merger with Wilbur Ross-backed special-purpose acquisition company Ross Acquisition Corp. II (NASDAQ:ROSS), as the organizations have mutually agreed to terminate their proposed merger. When the pair announced their deal in January, Ross had $350 million in its trust; a subsequent regulatory filing showed that 82% ($287 million) had been withdrawn in redemptions. Aprinoia is advancing PET diagnostics, an antibody platform and a protein degradation platform to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders...