By Kamal Choudhury and Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) -Sarepta Therapeutics’ licensing partner Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday it expects to receive near-term milestone payments from the drugmaker despite recent setbacks, including the death of a trial patient reported last week. Shares of Arrowhead closed up 6.4%. Its stock has declined 11% since Sarepta disclosed that a […]
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Sarepta’s licensing partner Arrowhead expects near-term payments despite setbacks
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By Kamal Choudhury and Bhanvi Satija
(Reuters) -Sarepta Therapeutics’ licensing partner Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday it expects to receive near-term milestone payments from the drugmaker despite recent setbacks, including the death of a trial patient reported last week.
Shares of Arrowhead closed up 6.4%. Its stock has declined 11% since Sarepta disclosed that a 51-year-old man who received its experimental gene therapy SRP-9004 died of liver failure.
Investors and analysts criticized Sarepta for reporting the patient’s death a day after it disclosed cost cutting efforts, including its plans to halt the study and layoffs. Two teenage boys who received Elevidys, Sarepta’s gene therapy approved for a rare muscular dystrophy, have also died of liver toxicities this year.
Sarepta’s shares declined 25% in the last week, and have fallen nearly 90% so far this year. The stock closed down 2%.
The companies entered into an agreement in late 2024, and Sarepta gained licensing rights to four of Arrowhead’s early-stage experimental therapies.
“We intend to honor our commitments with Arrowhead per the exclusive license and collaboration agreement that we executed with them,” Sarepta told Reuters in an email.
Arrowhead expects to receive $300 million by the end of this year, related to patient enrollment for its early-to-mid stage study of ARO-DM1, which is being tested for a genetic condition.
If Sarepta fails to make certain payments, Arrowhead would have the right to terminate the partnership, the drug developer said. Provisions of the deal allow both the parties to terminate the agreement under certain circumstances.
Arrowhead would face significant challenges progressing these therapies independently if the partnership were terminated, Bernstein analyst William Pickering said, adding that it’s unlikely that the company would find another partner willing to offer terms as favorable as those provided by Sarepta.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Alan Barona)