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TEVA, Royalty Pharma Sign Funding Deal for Schizophrenia Drug

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA - Free Report) announced a funding agreement with Royalty Pharma (RPRX - Free Report) to accelerate the development of its key pipeline candidate, olanzapine (TEV-‘749),  a long-acting subcutaneous injectable (LAI) for treating schizophrenia. Per the deal, Royalty Pharma will provide Teva R&D funding support of up to $125 million to cover the cost of developing olanzapine LAI. Olanzapine LAI is being developed in a phase III study for schizophrenia. Teva will lead the development and commercialization of the candidate globally.

Along with its third-quarter results, Teva announced that it has accelerated data readout from the phase III study on olanzapine as the study enrolled quickly. The data from the phase III study is expected in the second half of 2024. Teva has enrolled more than 550 patients in the study.

So far this year, shares of Teva Pharmaceuticals have declined 3.3% against the industry’s increase of 16.8%.

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As far as the transaction terms of the deal are concerned, Royalty Pharma will provide Teva with up to $100 million to cover the ongoing costs of the phase III study. The companies also have a mutual option agreement to increase the total funding amount to $125 million. If the FDA approves olanzapine LAI, then Teva will pay Royalty Pharma the total amount funded over five years plus low to mid-single-digit royalties upon commercialization. If Teva fails to file a new drug application with the FDA despite positive phase III data, Teva will return an amount equal to 125% of the total amount funded.

This is Teva’s second collaboration deal in less than two months for its pipeline candidates. Last month, Teva entered into a deal with Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) , a global leader in immunology, to jointly develop and commercialize its inflammatory bowel disease (“IBD”) candidate, TEV’574, a novel anti-TL1A therapy. TEV’574 is presently being evaluated in a phase IIb study for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, which are two types of IBD. Initial data from the studies are expected in 2024. Teva and Sanofi will equally share the development costs globally.

Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider

Teva currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

A better-ranked generic drugmaker is Bausch Health Companies (BHC - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Earnings per share estimates for Bausch Health Companies have increased from $3.28 to $3.37 for 2023 and from $3.70 to $3.78 for 2024 in the past 30 days. Shares of BHC are up 4% year to date. Earnings of Bausch Health Companies beat estimates in the past three quarters and missed in one, the average surprise being 0.04%.


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