STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE – INSIDE INFORMATION
1 JULY 2024 at 15:15 EEST
“The conversion of this collaboration into a license agreement allows Orion to focus our resources to progress our other promising development candidates while both remaining well positioned to benefit from the development and potential commercialisation of opevesostat and meeting our financial objectives,” said Liisa Hurme, President & CEO of Orion Corporation. “We believe MSD provides the best choice to maximise the potential of opevesostat, a compound discovered by Orion’s scientists, for the treatment of patients with certain types of prostate cancer.” As previously announced, under the companies’ original co-development and co-commercialisation agreement each party was granted an option to convert the co-exclusive license into an exclusive global license for MSD. With the exercise of the option, MSD will gain global exclusive rights to develop and commercialise opevesostat and other candidates targeting CYP11A1 covered by the agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Orion is now eligible to receive development milestone payments up to USD 30 million, regulatory milestone payments up to USD 625 million and sales-based milestone payments up to USD 975 million as well as annually tiered royalty payments ranging from a low double-digit rate up to a rate in the low twenties on net sales for any commercialised licensed product. The development and regulatory milestones are determined by the scope of a number of treatment indications and multiple geographies. Annual sales exceeding several billion US dollars would be required to reach the total amount of the sales milestones and higher-end of the royalty rate. In addition, as a result of the exercise of the option, MSD will now assume full responsibility for all past and future development and commercialisation expenses associated with the candidates covered by the agreement. As a result of the option exercise and MSD’s assumption of expenses, Orion announced it will release EUR 60 million that was reserved in July 2022 to cover Orion’s share of development cost to be accrued from the balance sheet to net sales and operating profit in Q3 2024. Orion will retain responsibility for the manufacture of clinical and commercial supply for MSD. No payment is associated with the exercise of this option. The exclusive global license is subject to approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary conditions, and is expected to become effective in the third quarter of 2024.
OMAHA1 is a randomised, open-label Phase 3 trial evaluating opevesostat in combination with HRT for the treatment of patients with later-line mCRPC who have failed one prior new hormonal agent (NHA) and one or two prior taxanes compared to an alternative NHA (abiraterone or enzalutamide). The trial will enroll an estimated 1,200 patients around the world. The primary endpoints are overall survival (OS) and radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) by androgen receptor ligand-binding domain (AR LBD) mutation status. Secondary endpoints include time to first subsequent therapy (TFST), objective response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DOR). OMAHA2a is a randomised, open-label Phase 3 trial evaluating opevesostat in combination with HRT for the treatment of patients with front-line mCRPC who have failed one prior NHA compared to physician’s choice of NHA (abiraterone or enzalutamide). The trial will enroll an estimated 1,500 patients around the world. The primary endpoints are OS and rPFS by AR LBD mutation status. Secondary endpoints include TFST, ORR and DOR. About metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer
Orion is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company – a builder of well-being for over a hundred years. We develop, manufacture and market human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Orion has an extensive portfolio of proprietary and generic medicines and consumer health products. The core therapy areas of our pharmaceutical R&D are oncology and pain. Proprietary products developed by Orion are used to treat cancer, neurological diseases and respiratory diseases, among others. Orion's net sales in 2023 amounted to EUR 1,190 million and the company had about 3,600 employees at the end of the year. Orion's A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. At MSD, known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA in the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world - and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable and healthy future for all people and communities. For more information, visit www.msd.com and connect with us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube. President and CEO Outi Vaarala
SVP, Innovative Medicines and Research & Development
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