Continued strong Cresemba® (isavuconazole) sales trigger milestone from Pfizer to Basilea of USD 10 million

Basel, Switzerland, February 09, 2021

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) announced today that sales of the antifungal Cresemba^® (isavuconazole) by Pfizer in Europe and Israel exceeded the threshold triggering a milestone payment to Basilea of USD 10 million.

Basilea is entitled to receive milestone payments upon Pfizer’s cumulative Cresemba sales in Pfizer’s licensed territories exceeding certain thresholds. Pfizer is currently commercializing Cresemba in many European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K, as well as in a number of countries in the Asia Pacific region. Under the agreement, sales milestones totaling USD 12 million were triggered in 2019 and regulatory and commercial milestones totaling around USD 6 million were triggered in 2020.

David Veitch, Chief Executive Officer of Basilea, said: “We are very pleased that the continued strong sales performance of Cresemba has now triggered the 10 million US dollar milestone from Pfizer. This confirms that Cresemba is addressing a high medical need and we look forward to making our important antifungal treatment available to patients in a rapidly increasing number of countries around the world.”

In November 2017, Basilea and Pfizer extended their existing license agreement for Europe (excluding the Nordics), Russia, Turkey and Israel, to include China, including Hong Kong and Macao, and sixteen countries in the Asia Pacific region. Under the agreement with Pfizer, Basilea is still eligible for regulatory and sales milestone payments of up to approximately USD 620 million, in addition to receiving mid-teen royalties on sales.

Cresemba is currently marketed in around 50 countries, including the United States, most EU member states and several additional countries inside and outside of Europe. For the twelve-month period to the end of September 2020, total “in-market” sales of Cresemba amounted to USD 244 million, a more than 28 percent growth year-on-year.¹

About isavuconazole (Cresemba)

Isavuconazole is an intravenous (i.v.) and oral azole antifungal, commercialized under the trade name Cresemba. In the 27 European Union member states, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the U.K., isavuconazole is approved for the treatment of adult patients with invasive aspergillosis and for the treatment of adult patients with mucormycosis for whom amphotericin B is inappropriate.² Cresemba is also approved in the United States and several additional countries in Europe and beyond.³ It has orphan drug designation in the U.S., Europe and Australia for its approved indications. Basilea has entered into several license and distribution agreements for isavuconazole covering the United States, Europe, China, Japan, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa region, Canada, Russia, Turkey and Israel.

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on the development of products that address the medical challenges in the therapeutic areas of oncology and infectious diseases. With two commercialized drugs, the company is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea’s website www.basilea.com.

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements, such as “believe”, “assume”, “expect”, “forecast”, “project”, “may”, “could”, “might”, “will” or similar expressions concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical studies for product candidates. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.

References

1. IQVIA, September 2020. In-market sales reported as moving annual total (MAT) in U.S. dollars corrected for currency fluctuations.
2. European Public Assessment Report (EPAR) Cresemba: http://www.ema.europa.eu [Accessed: February 08, 2021]
3. The registration status and approved indications may vary from country to country.

Press release (PDF)