Cadwalader Advises Élan Corporation in Billion Dollar Royalty Deal

May 13, 2013

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, a leading counselor to global financial institutions and corporations, announced today that client Élan Corporation, plc, a biotechnology company headquartered in Ireland, will purchase from Theravance, Inc. a 21% participation interest in potential future royalty payments related to four respiratory programs partnered with GlaxoSmithKline plc: RELVAR™ ELLIPTA™/BREO™ ELLIPTA™, AORO™ ELLIPTA™, MABA (Bifunctional Muscarinic Antagonist-Beta2 Agonist) monotherapy (GSK961081) and vilanterol (VI) monotherapy. In exchange for the participation interest, Élan will make a one-time cash payment to Theravance of $1.0 billion.

The Cadwalader team is led by Christopher Cox (Corporate), Ira Schacter (Corporate) and special counsel Aly El Hamamsy (Corporate) in New York; and Angus Duncan (Capital Markets) and Adam Blakemore (Tax) in London.

In April, Cadwalader also advised Élan in the restructuring of its Tysabri® collaboration with Biogen Idec. On closing of the transaction, Élan received a cash payment of $3.25 billion, together with a double-digit, tiered royalty right on future worldwide net sales of Tysabri®.