The funding agreement comes as Biogen revealed a modest Q4 sales beat, which analysts expect will be “overshadowed” by the company’s forecasted dip in 2025 revenues.
Biogen is snagging some quick funds from Royalty Pharma to help push an investigational lupus antibody into late-stage development. Under the terms of the deal, Royalty will give Biogen $250 million over six quarters and will receive regulatory milestones and mid-single-digit royalties on worldwide sales, Biogen announced Wednesday.
In a statement, Royalty CEO Pablo Legorreta called the arrangement a “win-win” for the parties, as well as a positive development for patients.
“Litifilimab has the potential to significantly improve treatment outcomes for patients living with lupus, and we are excited to support its Phase III development through this funding collaboration,” Legorreta said.
In an investor note Wednesday, analysts at Truist Securities said the agreement with Royalty “should work well for Biogen” as it will allow the company to “access near-term cash” to help buff its pipeline. The pharma could leverage similar arrangements for its Alzheimer’s disease franchise, too, which the analysts said would likely be a “mainstay” of the company’s story.
Designed to target the BDCA2 protein, litifilimab is a monoclonal antibody that works by disrupting the production of the pro-inflammatory interferons, which are known to contribute to the pathology of lupus, according to Biogen’s website. A Phase II readout in September 2022, also published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the molecule could significantly reduce joint pain in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Aside from SLE, Biogen is also trialing litifilimab in cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). Phase III data are expected between 2026 and 2027, according to Wednesday’s news release.
The Royalty Pharma deal comes as Biogen struggles to maintain its footing amid various business headwinds. Last month, it filed an unsolicited takeover offer to long-time partner Sage Therapeutics—which the biotech met with a lawsuit. Sage formally rejected the offer about a week later, arguing that Biogen’s offer of $469 million significantly undervalued the biotech.
At around the same time, Biogen announced it was laying off an undisclosed number of employees as it seeks to “reinvigorate” its drug discovery capabilities and “support long-term growth,” a company spokesperson told BioSpace in January. “The aim is to be more agile, efficient, and effective to deliver more viable drug candidates to the clinic.”
Also on Wednesday, Biogen released its fourth-quarter and full-year financial report. The pharma made $2.46 billion in the quarter, representing 3% year-on-year growth and a 2% beat versus consensus. Analysts seemed to have mixed reactions to Biogen’s results, with BMO Capital Markets noting that the revenue beat will likely get “overshadowed by softer-than-expected 2025 guide.”
Biogen expects to deliver diluted earnings per share of $15.25 to $16.25 this year, while it forecasts revenue to dip by a mid-single-digit percentage—a projection that is “a little lower than consensus,” according to Jefferies.
The company also trimmed its early-stage pipeline on Wednesday, announcing that it will no longer invest resources into BIIB113 in Alzheimer’s disease, BIIB094 in Parkinson’s disease, BIIB101 in multiple system atrophy and BIIB143 in diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain.
