Under the terms of the royalty purchase and sale agreement, Zealand Pharma will receive USD 100 million for the sale of its economic interests related to rusfertide, including rights to one percent royalty on potential future global net sales of rusfertide and regulatory and commercial milestones. Of the USD 100 million, Zealand Pharma will receive an upfront payment of USD 50 million upon closing of the transaction. The remaining USD 50 million is due upon the first anniversary of the closing of the agreement. Zealand Pharma will retain the right to a 0.25% royalty on annual net global sales of rusfertide greater than USD 1.5 billion, while Royalty Pharma will retain a 0.75% royalty on sales above USD 1.5 billion.

“We are very pleased to work with Royalty Pharma, a leading funder of life science innovation, on this strategic financial transaction,” says Henriette Wennicke, Chief Financial Officer at Zealand Pharma. “This agreement converts a future potential royalty stream into immediate capital that will be redeployed against future growth opportunities in line with our key strategic priorities under our Metabolic Frontier 2030 strategy.”

The U.S. FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for the New Drug Application (NDA) for rusfertide for the treatment of adults with polycythemia vera in the third quarter of 2026 and Takeda will be responsible for global commercialization.

In June 2012, Zealand Pharma and Protagonist Therapeutics entered into a research collaboration agreement to develop disulfide-rich peptides (DRPs). Under the agreement, Zealand Pharma was responsible for preclinical and clinical drug development of DRPs discovered under the collaboration. The research collaboration was terminated in 2014 and Protagonist’s payment obligations to Zealand Pharma were clarified in a settlement agreement reached in 2021. In January 2024, Protagonist and Takeda entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement for rusfertide.