FYCOMPA®
On December 17, 2022, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Eisai Co., Ltd. (Eisai) for the acquisition of the U.S. rights to FYCOMPA® (perampanel) CIII. FYCOMPA® is a selective non-competitive antagonist of AMPA receptors, the major subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptors. It was the first, and still the only, drug of its class to be approved for epilepsy. Studies suggest that AMPA receptor antagonism can lead to reduced overstimulation and anticonvulsant effects, as well as inhibiting seizure generation and spread. FYCOMPA® is a controlled substance and is approved with a box warning label.
FYCOMPA® is used to treat partial onset seizures with or without secondarily generalized seizures in adults and children 4 years of age and older. It is also used in combination with other medications to treat primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures (also known as a “grand mal” seizure, a seizure that involves the entire body) in adults and children 12 years of age or older. Perampanel is in a class of medications called anticonvulsants. It works by decreasing abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
On January 24, 2023 we closed our acquisition of the U.S. rights to FYCOMPA®. In connection with the acquisition, we purchased Eisai’s regulatory approvals and documentation, product records, intellectual property, inventory, and other matters relating to the U.S. rights for FYCOMPA®, in exchange for a cash upfront payment of $160 million, plus $1.6 million for reimbursement of certain prepayments. We also may be obligated to pay Eisai an additional cash payment of $25 million if a patent extension for FYCOMPA® is approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Finally, we agreed to pay Eisai royalty payments after patent protection for FYCOMPA® expires, which royalty payments will be reduced upon generic equivalents to FYCOMPA® entering the market.
In conjunction with the closing of our acquisition of FYCOMPA®, we entered into two additional agreements with Eisai; a Transition Services Agreement and a Supply Agreement. Under the Transition Services Agreement, a U.S. subsidiary of Eisai is providing us with certain transitional services, and under the Supply Agreement, Eisai has agreed to manufacture FYCOMPA® for us for at least seven years at prices listed in the Supply Agreement (to be updated on a yearly basis).
Initially, following the closing of the acquisition, we began marketing FYCOMPA® in the U.S. through Eisai’s U.S. subsidiary under the Transition Services Agreement as we built our FYCOMPA® marketing and sales team, and on May 1, 2023, we took over the marketing program for FYCOMPA®. In that regard, we have hired approximately 34 sales and marketing personnel to support FYCOMPA®, most of whom previously worked in Eisai’s U.S. sales division marketing FYCOMPA®. We also have hired seven medical science liaisons to help us educate the medical community who treat epilepsy and the patients who have epilepsy about their disease and the benefits of FYCOMPA®.
Catalyst is supporting patients using FYCOMPA® through an Instant Savings Card Program. Through the program, eligible commercially insured patients could pay as little as $10 for their FYCOMPA® co-pay (with a maximum savings of $1,300 per year). The FYCOMPA® instant savings card program is not available to patients enrolled in state or federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, VA, DoD, or TRICARE.
Patent protection for FYCOMPA® is primarily from two patents listed in the Orange Book. The first, U.S. Patent No. 6,949,571 (the ‘571 patent), will expire no earlier than May 23, 2025, which is the current expiration date for the ‘571 patent that includes the USPTO’s current patent term extension calculation. A request for reconsideration of the agency’s patent term extension calculation to extend the period until June 26, 2026 was recently denied, and the Company is currently exploring its options to potentially obtain that extension. The second FYCOMPA® patent in the Orange Book is U.S Patent No. 8,772,497 (the ‘497 patent) that expires on July 1, 2026. The ‘497 patent is the one that has been the subject of previous Paragraph IV certifications from three ANDA filers.
On February 20, 2023, Catalyst received a Paragraph IV Certification Notice Letter from a company that appears to have filed the first ANDA for the oral suspension formulation for FYCOMPA®. The same company sent a similar letter to the Company later in February with a similar certification for the tablet formulation for FYCOMPA®, the fourth such certification for this formulation. Both of these letters were paragraph IV certifications of non-infringement, non-validity, and unenforceability to the ‘497 patent for FYCOMPA® but each application, like the previous Paragraph IV notices from ANDA filers, for FYCOMPA® tablets does not challenge the ‘571 patent. Similar to our actions with the FIRDAPSE® Paragraph IV Certifications described above, after due diligence Catalyst filed lawsuits on April 5, 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against the drug manufacturer who notified Catalyst of their ANDA submissions for both FYCOMPA® formulations, thus triggering the 30 month stay for each application.
Vamorolone
On June 19, 2023, we entered into a License and Collaboration Agreement (License Agreement) and an Investment Agreement (Investment Agreement) with Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding, Inc. (Santhera). Under the License Agreement, we contracted to obtain an exclusive North America license, manufacturing and supply agreement for Santhera’s investigational product candidate, vamorolone, a dissociated steroid currently under FDA review for the treatment of DMD. Under the Investment Agreement, we agreed to make a strategic investment into Santhera.
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