The Long-Delayed Daxas® News: Merck Drops EU And Canadian Rights

As my erstwhile commenter once again notes, it wasn't likely to be a blockbuster for Whitehouse Station (as a legacy Schering-Plough candidate). . . but disappointing that UK's NICE doesn't see the cost/benefit for it, in any event.

So not one euro (or Canadian dollar) of net revenue -- from the rights to Daxas^® -- will ever reach the combined Merck bottom-line. Sigh. Here is a bit of an early January edition of the pharmaletter (do go read it all), on the topic:

. . . .Japan’s largest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceuticals says that it has reached a mutual agreement with US drug giant Merck & Co., which is known as MSD outside the USA and Canada, to terminate their co-promotion agreement for Daxas (roflumilast) in certain European countries and Canada as of December 31, 2011.

MSD will return the rights to Daxas, a once-daily tablet for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), to Takeda in all countries covered by the agreement. Under the terms of the original deal between Merck and then independent Swiss drugmaker Nycomed, Nycomed received an undisclosed upfront fee from Merck and became eligible for certain payments based on defined regulatory and commercialization milestones for Daxas. . . .

So it goes. [I am sorely tempted to say something about Ex-CEO Fred Hassan's non-discerning eye here, but I won't; you already know the drill if you've been following along these past few years.]

I'll try to keep these items more current, from here on. Apologies.