We can only imagine how excited the folks at a small pharmaceutical development company called Verus were when they signed a deal with the mighty AstraZeneca in the spring of 2007. AstraZeneca agreed to pay Verus $30 million to develop its early-stage pediatric asthma drug, with an eye toward a preliminary October 2008 meeting with the Food and Drug Administration to receive approval for clinical testing. If all went well, AstraZeneca would then pay Verus another $280 million to acquire rights to the drug.
All didn’t go well. Early testing on rats and dogs revealed serious safety issues. By September 2008, AstraZeneca was talking about discontinuing animal testing. In fact, at a Sept. 18 meeting, someone from AstraZeneca asked Verus if the company planned to repurchase development rights to its drug, under a contractual agreement that permitted Verus to reacquire rights for $1.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]