Blog Coverage Ionis Pharma Records Three Milestones Payment Within a Week

Upcoming AWS Coverage on Merus Labs International Post-Earnings Results

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / December 23, 2016 / Active Wall St. blog coverage looks at the headline from Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) as the Company announced on December 22nd, 2016, that it has earned $5 million milestone payment from Janssen Biotech, Inc. (“Janssen”) associated with the validation of an undisclosed target to treat patients with a gastrointestinal (GI) autoimmune disease. Register with us now for your free membership and blog access at: http://www.activewallst.com/register/.

One of Ionis Pharma’s competitors within the Drug Manufacturers – Other space, Merus Labs International Inc. (NASDAQ: MSLI), reported on December 14, 2016, its financial results for the year-end and fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. AWS will be initiating a research report on Merus Labs in the coming days.

Today, AWS is promoting its blog coverage on IONS; touching on MSLI. Get all of our free blog coverage and more by clicking on the links below:

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“In just two short years, our collaboration with Janssen has proven to be very successful. Earlier this year, we earned $10 million when Janssen licensed IONIS-JBI1-2.5Rx, an orally delivered antisense drug for the treatment of a GI autoimmune disease. The program announced today marks the second to advance under our collaboration with Janssen,” said B. Lynne Parshall, Chief Operating Officer at Ionis, “We are excited by the rapid advancement of both programs and look forward to the continued progress of this collaboration.”

Ionis and Janssen will continue to evaluate the target with the goal of advancing an antisense drug into development. Under terms of the agreement, which covers three programs, Ionis is eligible to receive nearly $800 million in development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments and license fees. In addition, Ionis will receive tiered royalties that on average are double-digits on sales from any product that is successfully commercialized.

A String of Milestones

Ionis’ milestone payment announcement comes within a week of other milestones payment announcement. On December 16th, Ionis announced that it has earned $28 million from AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) following AstraZeneca’s completion of IND-supporting studies and license of IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx, or AZD4785. IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx is a Generation 2.5 antisense drug discovered by Ionis designed to directly target KRAS, one of the most frequently mutated genes in cancer. AstraZeneca will be responsible for further developing and commercializing IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx.

As IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx advances in development, Ionis is eligible to receive up to $137 million for additional development and regulatory milestone payments. Ionis and AstraZeneca are collaborating to discover and develop antisense drugs to treat cancer under a Collaboration, License and Development Agreement entered into in December 2012. With the completion of the IND-supporting studies for IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx, Ionis has received more than $85 million in upfront and milestone payments from its oncology collaboration with AstraZeneca and is eligible to earn additional milestone payments as the drug progresses in development as well as royalties on sales of IONIS-KRAS-2.5Rx if it is commercialized.

On December 19th, 2016, Ionis announced that it has advanced its lead drug candidate IONIS-AZ4-2.5-LRx, which has now been renamed AZD8233, into preclinical development. AZD8233 is designed to inhibit an undisclosed target to treat cardiovascular disease and is also the first of a new class of antisense drugs that uses both Ionis’ proprietary Generation 2.5 chemistry and its LIgand Conjugated Antisense or LICA technology. In conjunction with this milestone, Ionis earned a $25 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca.

Ionis is eligible to receive up to $300 million in additional development and regulatory milestone payments as well as tiered, low double-digit royalties from sales of the drug, as the drug advances in development.

Stock Performance

At the closing bell, on Thursday, December 22, 2016, Ionis Pharma’s stock slipped 1.07%, ending the trading session at $51.59. A total volume of 1.49 million shares were traded at the end of the day. The Company’s stock price rallied 18.30% in the last month, 46.90% in the past three months, and 134.82% in the previous six months. Moreover, the stock gained 2.79% since the start of the year. The stock currently has a market cap of $6.30 billion.

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