Sanofi (SNY) announced that it has entered into an agreement with privately-held company, MyoKardia, Inc. to discover and develop targeted therapeutics for heritable heart diseases called cardiomyopathies.
Terms and Scope of the Agreement
The collaboration includes three of MyoKardia’s programs – two focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and one on dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The terms of the agreement include equity investments, research and development services and milestone payments of up to $200 million through 2018. Out of this, an upfront licensing fee payment and an initial equity investment totaling $45 million has already been made.
While Sanofi and MyoKardia will share the development costs on the HCM programs on a 50/50 basis once initial efficacy is demonstrated, Sanofi will undertake full responsibility of the development costs related to the DCM program.
As for commercialization activities, MyoKardia will undertake the commercial activities for the two HCM programs in the U.S. Sanofi will shoulder the commercialization activities for the two HCM programs in ex-U.S. territories and for the DCM program globally.
Cardiomyopathies are the most common forms of heart muscle disease with HCM being a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young adults and DCM being a leading genetic illness requiring heart transplantation. HCM and DCM together affect approximately 800,000 individuals in the U.S. Currently available therapies are approved for other indications and only help to treat the symptoms of the disease.
Sanofi carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) and Amgen Inc. (AMGN). While Amgen is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, Gilead and Biogen carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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