Royalty Pharma and Ascendis Pharma Enter Into $150 Million Royalty Funding Agreement

Rare Daily Staff

Royalty Pharma and Ascendis Pharma said that Royalty Pharma has entered into a $150 million capped synthetic royalty funding agreement with Ascendis based on U.S. net Skytrofa revenue.

“Skytrofa, as the first U.S. approved weekly growth hormone therapy for pediatrics, addresses significant unmet patient need, which is underscored by its strong launch,” said Pablo Legorreta, founder and CEO of Royalty Pharma.

Skytrofa is a prodrug of somatropin, administered once weekly, and designed to provide sustained release of active, unmodified somatropin. The unmodified, unbound parent drug released from lonapegsomatropin is recombinant human growth hormone that binds to growth hormone receptors throughout the body, with the identical 191 amino-acid sequence and size as endogenous growth hormone and the growth hormone in daily products. Skytrofa was developed as TransCon hGH and approved in 2021 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of pediatric patients 1 year and older who weigh at least 11.5 kg and have growth failure due to inadequate secretion of endogenous growth hormone.

“This transaction reflects the significant value of Skytrofa,” said Jan Mikkelsen, Ascendis Pharma’s president and Chief Executive Officer. “With this funding, we continue to reduce our cost of capital and provide added flexibility to support our global commercial capabilities to bring our TransCon products to patients as fast as possible.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Ascendis Pharma receives an upfront payment of $150 million in exchange for a 9.15 percent royalty on U.S. net Skytrofa revenue, beginning on January 1, 2025. The royalty payments to Royalty Pharma will cease upon reaching a multiple of 1.925x, or 1.65x if Royalty Pharma receives royalties in that amount by December 31, 2031.

Proceeds from the deal will support continued development and commercialization of Ascendis’ Endocrine Rare Disease products and general corporate purposes.