Licensing agreement in place for oral, once-daily ATP Citrate Lyase inhibitor

Daiichi Sankyo Europe and Esperion have entered into a European licensing agreement for bempedoic acid, and the bempedoic acid/ezetimibe combination table. Daiichi will be in charge of commercialisation, and will make an upfront payment of $150 million to Esperion as well as additional milestone payments, including $150 million upon first commercial sales and sales royalties. Esperion will take control of development and manufacturing.
Bempedoic acid can be used in combination with other lipid lowering drugs. It is an oral, once-daily ATP Citrate Lyase inhibitor that reduces cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis in the liver, for patients with hypercholesterolemia, who are not at their target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. It has a liver specific mode of action and therefore has the potential to avoid the muscle related adverse drug reactions associated with statin therapy. Only 32% of patients are at their target LDL-C level, and a recent clinical trial consisted of almost 4,800 patients, of which 3,100 patients were treated with bempedoic acid with an additional LDL-C lowering of up to 30% LDL-C, and up to 48% LDL-C in combination with ezetimibe.
Esperion’s president and CEO, Tim Mayleben said: “This agreement represents the first step in the evolution of Esperion from a pioneering development-stage company to a successful commercial-stage company.”