(Reuters) – United Therapeutics Corp on Thursday signed a deal potentially worth up to $ 1.2 billion for the rights to develop and sell Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc’s pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment(PAH).
The two companies said the deal for Arena’s late-stage experimental treatment, ralinepag, includes milestone payments of up to $ 400 million based on certain regulatory events in addition to an upfront payment of $ 800 million.
In September, United Therapeutics had struck a deal with Mannkind Corp to develop and sell dry powder treprostinil, an experimental treatment for the same condition.
Pulmonary hypertension is a type of high blood pressure that affects arteries in the lungs and the right side of the heart.
“(Once it gets approval) this product (ralinepag) will help greater than 10,000 patients annually from the 2020s and well into the 2030s, while complementing our existing portfolio of PAH therapies,” Martine Rothblatt, United Therapeutics chief executive officer said in a statement.
Arena will receive low double-digit royalties on annual net sales of ralinepag, the companies said.
Shares of Arena Pharma jumped nearly 20 percent in premarket trading to $ 39.
Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu and Manogna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur