Homburger advises Santhera on license for vamorolone to Catalyst

Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding has announced the grant of an exclusive North America license for the com­mer­cial­iz­a­tion of vamorolone to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals for a total consideration of up to USD 231 million plus royalty payments from product sales. The deal includes a USD 15 million equity investment by Catalyst through the purchase of Santhera treasury shares. Vamorolone is an invest­ig­a­tion­al drug can­did­ate for the treat­ment of Duch­enne Mus­cu­lar Dys­trophy (DMD) cur­rently under FDA review. 

The Advisors

Homburger advised Santhera on the Swiss corporate, capital markets and tax law aspects of the transaction. The team was led by Daniel Häusermann (corporate / m&a, capital markets, pictured) and included Stefan Oesterhelt (tax), Eduard De Zordi and Philipp Klein (both capital markets) as well as Jasmin Künzle and Martin Cattaneo (both corporate/m&a, capital markets).

From the other side, Advestra acted as Swiss leg­al coun­sel to Cata­lyst Phar­ma­ceut­ic­als. The team included partner Daniel Raun, Andreas Hin­sen and Valérie Bayard (m&a/com­mer­cial) as well as Céline Mar­tin (tax).

Schellenberg Wittmer has also advised Santhera on the license agreement. The team included Philipp Groz and Alisa Zehner (both IP / Life Sciences), Marcel Jakob (corporate/m&a), Michael Nordin and Tabea Elmer (both Tax).