Just two weeks after inking a deal to sell its Lymphoseek imaging agent to longtime distributor Cardinal Health, Navidea is collecting $1 million in commercial milestones for the product.
Navidea is picking up $500,000 from Cardinal Health for selling the 100,000th dose of Lymphoseek since its launch, according to a statement. The other $500,000 comes from Netherlands-based Norgine, thanks to a positive opinion for the Lymohoseek 50-microgram kit for radiopharmaceutical preparation from the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.
“These milestones reflect the growing acceptance of Lymphoseek in the U.S. for improving the outcomes in patients with melanoma, breast and oral cavity cancers and signal the expected European launch of Lymphoseek in Q42016,” said Jed Latkin, Navidea’s interim chief operating officer and chief financial officer, in the statement.
FDA-approved in 2013, Lymphoseek is a radioactive imaging agent intended to help spot lymph nodes that are most likely to be carrying cancer in patients with melanoma, breast cancer or node-negative squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. In the EU, it is approved for imaging and intraoperative detection of such lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer, melanoma or localized squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.
Earlier this month, Dublin, OH-based Navidea agreed to offload Lymphoseek to Cardinal Health. At the deal’s close, the diagnostics maker will pick up $80 million and has the potential to pick up sales-based milestones that could make the deal worth up to $310 million.
“This agreement with Cardinal Health will provide significant financial resources for us to repay all outstanding debt to CRG and accelerate the development of our robust pipeline of diagnostic products, which are notably focused on Rheumatoid Arthritis and Cardiovascular disease, as well as our Macrophage Therapeutics pipeline,” said Dr. Michael Goldberg, chairman of Navidea’s board, at the deal’s announcement.