RARE Daily

Atara Enters $31 Million Royalty Interest Financing Agreement with HealthCare Royalty

December 21, 2022

Atara Biotherapeutics has entered into a $31 million royalty interest financing agreement with HealthCare Royalty for Ebvallo, its allogeneic T-cell therapy for a rare cancer that just received marking approval in Europe and other territories covered by Atara’s commercialization agreement with Pierre Fabre.

“This strategic deal with Healthcare Royalty contributes to Atara’s financial position and reflects our positive momentum following the recent European Commission approval of Ebvallo as the only approved therapy for EU patients with a rare and potentially deadly cancer,” said Pascal Touchon, president and CEO of Atara.

Under the terms of the agreement, Atara will receive a $31 million upfront payment from Healthcare Royalty (HCRx). In exchange, HCRx will receive rights to specified royalties and milestones under the Pierre Fabre commercialization agreement for Europe and other territories. The total royalties and milestones payable to HCRx are capped between 185 percent and 250 percent of the total investment amount by HCRx, dependent upon the timing of such royalties and milestones.

Additionally, Atara retains existing milestone payments from Pierre Fabre of $10 million for Ebvallo approval in Europe and $30 million for Atara’s initiation of the EU Marketing Authorization Application transfer to Pierre Fabre from the previously announced commercialization agreement and subsequent update announced in September 2022.

The European Commission recently granted marketing authorization for Ebvallo, an allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy, as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older with relapsed or refractory Epstein‑Barr virus positive post‑transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+ PTLD) who have received at least one prior therapy, which for solid organ transplant patients, includes chemotherapy unless chemotherapy is inappropriate.

EBV+ PTLD is a rare, acute, and potentially deadly hematologic malignancy that occurs after transplantation when a patient’s T-cell immune response is compromised by immunosuppression. It can impact patients who have undergone solid organ transplant (SOT) or allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). Poor median survival of 0.7 months and 4.1 months for HCT and SOT, respectively, is reported in EBV+ PTLD patients for whom standard of care failed, underscoring the significant need for new therapeutic options.

Author: Rare Daily Staff

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