$25 million milestone for Protalix following US approval of Elelyso

Israel-based Protalix BioTherapeutics (TASE:PLX) has received a $25 million milestone payment from global pharma behemoth Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), which was triggered by the recent approval of Elelyso (taliglucerase alfa) by the US Food and Drug Administration's approval for the treatment of type 1 Gaucher disease (The Pharma Letter May 2).

Elelyso is an alternative therapeutic option to Genzyme’s Cerezyme (imiglucerase), the current market leader and standard of care in Gaucher disease, and Shire’s Vpriv (velaglucerase alfa). At launch, Elelyso was priced at $150,000 for a year of therapy, which is 25% lower than Cerezyme’s $200,000 price tag. Elelyso also costs less than Shire’s Vpriv, which was launched in 2010 at a price of $170,000 per patient per year.

On November 30, 2009, Pfizer and Protalix entered into an exclusive license and supply agreement relating to the development and commercialization of Elelyso, under the terms of which Protalix granted Pfizer an exclusive, worldwide license to the drug except in Israel. Except with respect to Protalix' commercialization efforts in Israel, Pfizer and Protalix share the revenues and expenses related to the worldwide commercialization of Elelyso on a 60%/40% basis, respectively, with certain agreed upon limits on the amounts of shared expenses.