Secura Bio to Acquire Global Rights to Oncology Drug Copiktra®

August 10, 2020

San Diego – Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, represented Secura Bio, Inc., an integrated biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the worldwide development and commercialization of impactful oncology therapies, in connection with the purchase of the global rights to Copiktra® (duvelisib) from Verastem, Inc.

The transaction involved a complex structure of regulatory milestones, royalty payments and revenue milestones across multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, European Union, Russia, Japan and China. Secura Bio will make an up-front payment of $70 million upon the closing of the transaction and the total deal value can exceed $310 million if certain regulatory and sales-based milestones are successfully met by Secura Bio and Copiktra’s other rest-of-world partners.

Copiktra, an oral inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma after at least two prior therapies and relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after at least two prior systemic therapies.

Secura Bio will aggressively support the development of Copiktra in the treatment of T-cell lymphomas for which the PI3K inhibition-based mode of action is highly relevant, and explore new therapeutic opportunities for which the combination of PI3K and HDAC inhibitors may provide superior clinical outcomes.

The transaction will be partially financed with $70 million debt financing led by Athyrium Capital Management, LP. Paul Hastings also represented Secura Bio in the acquisition financing.

M&A partner Deyan Spiridonov led the Paul Hastings team, which included Finance partner Katherine Bell, Intellectual Property partner Todd Schneider and associates Ryan Enchelmayer, Tyler Dodge, Philip Cernera, Riley Millender, Nahal Bahri and Annalise Olson.

At Paul Hastings, our purpose is clear — to help our clients and people navigate new paths to growth. With a strong presence throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., Paul Hastings is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative global law firms.