
Solving the mystery of Vifor’s new voucher
Today Vifor Pharma said it had bought a priority review voucher. What it did not say, however, is from whom it bought it, how much it paid, or the use to which the voucher is to be put. Fortunately educated guesses can be made regarding all these unknowns. The table below reveals that 21 unused vouchers are thought to be in existence, and might thus have been sold to Vifor. As to price, the vouchers that changed hands last year went for about $100m – Vifor presumably would have paid around the same amount. When it comes to the project for which Vifor’s voucher might be used, the obvious candidate is vadadustat, in US phase III trials for the treatment of anaemia due to chronic kidney disease. Notably, one of the main candidates for use of the priority review voucher Astrazeneca bought from Sobi last year is the similar project roxadustat – though when Fibrogen, Astra’s partner, announced the filing it did not mention priority review. Perhaps this is a chance for Vifor, and its US partners Akebia Therapeutics and Otsuka, to steal a march on the competition.
Disclosed priority review vouchers thought not to have been redeemed | ||
---|---|---|
Date issued | Issued company | Action |
Feb 2014 | Biomarin | Sold for $68m to Sanofi & Regeneron |
Sep 2015 | Wellstat | Transferred to Astrazeneca in licensing deal |
Apr 2017 | Biomarin | Sold for $125m to undisclosed party |
Dec 2017 | Spark | Sold for $110m to Jazz Pharmaceuticals |
Apr 2018 | Ultragenyx | Sold for $81m to undisclosed party |
Jul 2018 | Siga | Sold for $80m to Lilly |
Jun 2018 | Medicines Development | Sold to Novo Nordisk |
Nov 2018 | Novimmune | Asset sold to Sobi, which sold PRV for $95m to Astrazeneca |
Sep 2019 | Bavarian Nordic | Sold for $95m to undisclosed party |
Dec 2015 | Alexion | None |
Dec 2016 | Biogen/Ionis | None |
Feb 2017 | Marathon | None; asset sold to PTC Therapeutics |
Aug 2017 | Insud Pharma | None |
Oct 2018 | Leadiant | None |
Feb 2019 | Novartis | None |
Feb 2019 | Vertex | None |
May 2019 | Sanofi | None |
May 2019 | Novartis | None |
Aug 2019 | TB Alliance | None |
Dec 2019 | Sarepta | None |
Dec 2019 | Merck & Co | None |