AcelRx Announces Sale Of Zalviso In EU By Grunenthal To PDL BioPharma

(RTTNews) - AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACRX) Monday announced the sale and monetization of royalties of Zalviso in European Union by its commercial partner Grunenthal GmbH to PDL BioPharma (PDLI) in a deal worth $65 million. As per the deal PDL will receive 75 percent of the European royalties under the license and 80 percent of the first four commercial milestones, subject to a capped amount.

AcelRx will receive 25 percent of the royalties, 20 percent of the first four commercial milestones, 100 percent of the remaining commercial milestones and all development milestones. In addition, for the approval of Zalviso MAA, AcelRx will potentially receive $15 million.

Zalviso is a combination drug and device product and is being evaluated for the treatment of moderate to severe post-operative pain in the hospital setting and could be used in lieu of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia. It has received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Grunenthal expects to launch Zalviso beginning in the first half of 2016, and PDL expects to begin receiving royalties shortly thereafter.

Timothy Morris, chief financial officer of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals said the transaction will increase its estimated cash at year end to over $100 million.

To facilitate the sale for tax purposes, AcelRx has established a wholly owned subsidiary, ARPI LLC.