Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of biotechnology company NPS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NPSP) jumped as much as 21% after announcing that it and Takeda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQOTH: TKPYY) had revised their collaborative agreements.
So what: And by "collaborative agreements" I mean that NPS agreed to pay Takeda $50 million in NPS' common stock in order to regain full global rights to its short bowel syndrome drug, Gattex, known as Revestive in Europe, and recombinant human parathyroid hormone 1-84. Takeda will also be eligible to receive a milestone payment from NPS when combined net sales of these two compounds exceed $750 million in a calendar year.
Now what: It's a slight bit worrisome that NPS is approaching sales of Revestive in Europe without a strong marketing partner in Takeda, but I believe it should be able to sell the short bowel syndrome drug without too much trouble given that SBS sufferers have few options to begin with. Overall, it looks like NPS got off incredibly cheap. Peak sales estimates of $350 million have been thrown around in the U.S. for Gattex, and I have to assume something similar is possible in Europe. Ultimately, the company is valued just a hair over the potential peak sales of its SBS drug, which it now owns outright. NPS could still have quite a bit of running room ahead of it.
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