Medivir to acquire a portfolio of clinical stage oncology programs

Swedish drugmaker Medivir (OMX: MVIR) has entered into an agreement to acquire two clinical stage oncology programs from Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TLOG), advancing and expanding its clinical pipeline.

The acquisition includes remetinostat, a skin-directed HDAC inhibitor, and birinapant, a bivalent SMAC mimetic, and all intellectual property and data associated with Tetralogic’s HDAC inhibitor and SMAC mimetic projects.

Under the terms of the deal, Medivir is expected to pay $12 million in cash upon closing of the transaction as well as future milestones of up to $153 million based on the development and commercialization of TetraLogic’s product candidates and earn-out payments which become payable upon achievement of specified annual sales. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2016. Merck & Co needs to sign off on an agreement transfer for birinapant considering its April 2015 license agreement with TetraLogic.