Covington Represents Eisai in $330M Royalties Sale

NEW YORK—Covington represented Eisai Co., Ltd. in connection with its sale to Royalty Pharma of royalties on sales of tazemetostat by Epizyme, Inc. outside of Japan for $330 million. Under a collaboration agreement between Epizyme and Eisai, Epizyme is responsible for the development and commercialization of tazemetostat outside of Japan, and Epizyme owes milestones and royalties on sales of tazemetostat outside of Japan to Eisai.

Under the terms of the agreement between Eisai and Royalty Pharma, Eisai received an upfront payment of $110 million for a portion of the royalty at the closing, and has the right to receive up to an additional $220 million for the remainder of the royalty, upon FDA approval of tazemetostat for certain indications.

Tazemetostat is a first-in-class oral epigenetic enzyme EZH2 inhibitor in clinical development for certain oncology indications, including epithelioid sarcoma and follicular lymphoma. 

Eisai will be able to use the proceeds from the monetization to accelerate the discovery of new cancer medicines.

The Covington team included Peter Schwartz and Julian Wright (corporate), Jessica Parezo and Ashley Kwon (intellectual property), and Ansgar Simon (tax).