Fenwick Represents Royalty Pharma in Acquisition of Royalty Interest in siRNA Drug Olpasiran from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in Deal Totaling Up to $410 Million

Fenwick represented Royalty Pharma (Nasdaq: RPRX), a buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and funder of innovation across the biopharmaceutical industry, in IP diligence regarding Royalty Pharma’s acquisition of a royalty interest in Amgen’s olpasiran from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals for $250 million in cash upfront plus up to $160 million in additional payments contingent on the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and sales milestones.

Olpasiran is an siRNA therapeutic, originally developed by Arrowhead and licensed to Amgen in 2016, used to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease. Under the terms of the agreement, Royalty Pharma is acquiring Arrowhead’s entire royalty interest in olpasiran, which is a royalty up to the low double digits on worldwide net sales. Arrowhead will retain rights to the $400 million in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments potentially due from Amgen. More information can be obtained from Royalty Pharma’s announcement.

The Fenwick team included intellectual property partner Dr. Carl Morales, senior associate Dr. Glenn Foulds and associate Dr. Lucas Greder.