Press Release
Press Release
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
11.03.20
Pillsbury Intellectual Property and Life Sciences partner John Wetherell and special counsel Michelle Mehok in San Diego provided the patent due diligence for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the successful completion of the sale of its remaining stake in royalties related to Vertex's CFTR modulators for an upfront payment of $575 million and a potential future payment of $75 million. The sale will bring additional resources to the fight against cystic fibrosis.
More than 20 years ago, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation took the pioneering step of providing research funding to Aurora Biosciences (now Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) to identify and develop the first treatments for the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis. Driven by the relentless determination of the cystic fibrosis community, those investments led to the development of multiple transformative therapies to treat the disease. In 2014, the CF Foundation sold rights to royalties related to those therapies to a third-party group called Royalty Pharma.
The funds from that sale are being used to accelerate the next generation of transformative therapies, support high-quality care and programs for people with cystic fibrosis and their families, and pursue bold new opportunities to find a cure for all people with the disease.
Pillsbury’s Wetherell and Mehok provided the due diligence in the previous sale in 2014, which was reported to be the largest of its kind at the time.