Calliditas is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that has already commercialized its first product, TARPEYO®, in the US for the treatment of patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a renal disease. The company has licensed this product to partners in the EU, Japan, China, and Singapore, where it is currently being developed and marketed.

Calliditas is also working on the development of setanaxib, a NOX inhibitor, for the treatment of various diseases, including head and neck cancer, alport syndrome, primary biliary cholangitis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Asahi expects that this business combination will help accelerate its transformation into a global specialty pharmaceutical business.

Josh Kaufman (NY/Miami), Co-Chair of DLA's Capital Markets and Public Companies Advisory Practice, is leading the deal team alongside partners Sanjay Shirodkar (DC) and Jonathan Klein (New York). Kaufman highlighted DLA Piper's cross-border capabilities, extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, and strong global M&A practice as reasons why Calliditas chose to work with them.

“Companies turn to us for our cross-border capabilities. We are pleased to be advising Calliditas based on our deep biopharmaceutical industry experience, our leading global M&A practice and our ability to seamlessly execute across three continents,” said Josh Kaufman (NY/Miami), Co-Chair of DLA’s Capital Markets and Public Companies Advisory Practice

The DLA Piper team also includes partners Rita Patel and Keith Ranta (both in Washington, DC), Jamie Knox and Paolo Morante (both in New York), Semin O (Frankfurt), and Ting Xiao (Shanghai), as well as associates Jenna Fontenot (Miami), Alex Carlson (Los Angeles), and Myriem Bennani (Chicago).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Calliditas will receive an initial upfront payment of 15M USD at signing of the agreement, as well as future payments linked to pre-defined development, regulatory and commercialization milestones up to an additional 106M USD, including an option worth up to 20M USD for the development of Nefecon in other potential indications. Everest will also pay typical royalties on net sales.

“We are excited to be entering into this partnership with Everest Medicines to expand Nefecon’s market reach to China, where there is a significant unmet medical need for this large patient population. We look forward to working in close collaboration with Everest Medicines to bring the innovative approach of Nefecon, which has shown great promise in our large Phase 2b study, to IgAN patients as rapidly as possible. Everest Medicines offers a unique combination of strong expertise in the clinical development and regulatory arena, and an innovative approach for this market,” said Renée Aguiar-Lucander, CEO of Calliditas Therapeutics AB.