Fenwick & West represented Loxo Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOXO), a leading biopharmaceutical company innovating the development of highly selective medicines for patients with genetically defined cancers, in its global collaboration with Bayer AG (ETR: BAYN), a Germany-based global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. The global development and commercialization partnership will allow Loxo Oncology to develop and commercialize larotrectinib and LOXO-195, two investigational new drugs in clinical development for the treatment of patients with cancers that harbor abnormalities involving the tropomyosin receptor kinases (TRKs) and that have acquired resistance to initial TRK therapy such as larotrectinib, respectively.
Under the terms of the agreement, Loxo Oncology will receive a $400 million upfront payment with eligibility for $450 million in milestone payments upon larotrectinib regulatory approvals and first commercial sale events in certain major markets and an additional $200 million in milestone payments upon LOXO-195 regulatory approvals and first commercial sale events in certain major markets. The collaboration has an announced value of up to $1.55 billion in upfront, regulatory and commercial milestones. More information about Loxo Oncology’s collaboration with Bayer can be obtained from the company announcement.
The Fenwick transaction team was led by Stefano Quintini and Effie Toshav, with support from corporate lawyer Rob Freedman, technology transactions lawyers Jake Handy and Claire O'Callaghan, antitrust lawyer Mark Ostrau; and tax lawyer Will Skinner.