Milestone/Royalty Rights
We are working both independently and through collaborations and strategic alliances with third parties to capitalize on our drug target discoveries and drug discovery and development programs. Consistent with this approach, we seek to retain exclusive rights to the benefits of certain drug discovery and development programs by developing and commercializing drug candidates from those programs internally, particularly in the United States for indications treated by specialist physicians. We seek to collaborate with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with respect to drug discovery or the development and commercialization of certain of our drug candidates, particularly with respect to commercialization in territories outside the United States or commercialization in the United States for indications treated by primary care physicians, or when the collaboration may provide us with access to expertise and resources that we do not possess internally or are complementary to our own. We also seek to collaborate with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, research institutes and academic institutions to capitalize on our drug target discoveries.
TerSera
We completed the sale of our XERMELO (telotristat ethyl) product and related assets to TerSera Therapeutics LLC in September 2020. XERMELO originated from our own internal drug discovery and development efforts and we commercially launched XERMELO following regulatory approval in the United States in February 2017 for the treatment of carcinoid syndrome diarrhea. In connection with the sale, TerSera assumed responsibility for the continued development of XERMELO as a treatment for biliary tract cancer, currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial. We are eligible to receive development, regulatory and sales milestone payments from TerSera of up to an aggregate of $65 million for the development and commercialization of XERMELO in patients with biliary tract cancer and mid-teens percentage royalty payments from TerSera on net sales of XERMELO in biliary tract cancer.
Genentech
We established a drug discovery alliance with Genentech, Inc. in December 2002 to discover novel therapeutic proteins and antibody targets. We and Genentech expanded the alliance in November 2005 for the advanced research, development and commercialization of new biotherapeutic drugs. Under the original alliance agreement, we used our target validation technologies to discover the functions of secreted proteins and potential antibody targets identified through Genentech’s internal drug discovery research. In the expanded alliance, we conducted additional, advanced research on a broad subset of those proteins and targets. We have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize biotherapeutic drugs for two of these targets, while Genentech has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize biotherapeutic drugs for the other targets. We retain certain other rights to discoveries made in the alliance, including non-exclusive rights, along with Genentech, for the development and commercialization of small molecule drugs addressing the targets included in the alliance. We received $58 million in upfront payments, research funding and research milestone payments under the agreement during the research collaboration term, which expired in November 2008. In addition, we are entitled to receive clinical and regulatory milestone payments ranging, depending on the extent of our efforts in the alliance, up to $25 million for each drug target for which Genentech develops a biotherapeutic drug under the alliance. We will also earn royalties on sales of biotherapeutic drugs commercialized by Genentech under the alliance. Genentech is entitled to receive milestone payments and royalties on sales of biotherapeutic drugs which we develop or commercialize under the alliance.
Bristol-Myers Squibb
We established a drug discovery alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in December 2003 to discover, develop and commercialize small molecule drugs in the neuroscience field. Bristol-Myers Squibb extended the target discovery term of the alliance in May 2006. We initiated the alliance with a number of neuroscience drug discovery programs at various stages of development and used our gene knockout technologies to identify additional drug targets with promise in the neuroscience field. For those targets that were selected for the alliance, we and Bristol-Myers Squibb worked together, on an exclusive basis, to identify, characterize and carry out the preclinical development of small molecule drugs. Bristol-Myers Squibb has the first option to assume full responsibility for clinical development and commercialization of any drugs resulting from the alliance which enter clinical trials, other than LX9211 and additional compounds acting through AAK1, for which we hold exclusive development and commercialization rights under the alliance. We received $86 million in upfront payments and research funding under the agreement during the target discovery portion of the alliance, which expired in October 2009. In addition, we are entitled to receive clinical and regulatory milestone payments ranging, depending on the timing and extent of our efforts in the alliance, up to $76 million for each drug developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb under the alliance. We will also earn royalties on sales of drugs commercialized by Bristol-Myers Squibb under the alliance.
LX9211 and another development compound acting through AAK1 were discovered by scientists working within our alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb. We have agreed to pay Bristol-Myers Squibb up to $34.5 million in clinical and regulatory milestones for the first indication and up to $16 million in clinical and regulatory milestones for each of the second and third indications, if applicable. We have also agreed to pay single digit royalties on worldwide net sales and up to $40 million in commercial milestones.