Minerva Neurosciences (NERV), Royalty Pharma (RPRX) Announce Sale of Seltorexant Royalty for up to $155 Million

Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NERV) and Royalty Pharma plc (Nasdaq: RPRX) today announced that Royalty Pharma will acquire Minerva’s royalty interest in seltorexant for an upfront payment of $60 million and up to $95 million in additional milestone payments. The additional payments to Minerva will be contingent on the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones.

Seltorexant is currently in Phase 3 development for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) with insomnia symptoms by Janssen Pharmaceutica, N.V., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

“We are very pleased to have entered into this agreement with Royalty Pharma, the leader in acquiring pharmaceutical royalties across the life sciences industry,” said Dr. Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Minerva. “The proceeds will be used to fund continued development of roluperidone, the Company’s proprietary lead compound, which is in Phase 3 development to treat negative symptoms in schizophrenia.”

“We are delighted to partner with Minerva,” said Pablo Legorreta, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Royalty Pharma. “Based on seltorexant’s differentiated mechanism of action and robust clinical evidence to date, we are excited by the therapy’s emerging profile and the opportunity it may bring to address a significant unmet need for the millions of patients with major depressive disorder with insomnia symptoms.”

Minerva Neurosciences is entitled to a mid-single digit royalty on worldwide net sales of seltorexant.

Cooley acted as legal advisors to Minerva Neurosciences on the transaction. Goodwin Procter, Dechert and Maiwald acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma on the transaction.

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