Merck KGaA has reached an agreement with BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based in San Rafael, California, to return the rights to Kuvan, used to treat phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare metabolism disorder, as the company focuses its healthcare business on core areas. Over the past three years, Merck KGaA has aligned its healthcare business with a focus on neurology, oncology, immuno-oncology. and immunology.

In addition to Kuvan, the two companies agreed that Merck KGaA will return its option to develop and commercialize Peg-Pal, an investigational drug that is also designed for the treatment of PKU, an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by either a defect or a deficiency of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase or its co-factortetrahydrobiopterin. Merck KGaAwill receive an upfront payment of EUR 340 million ($382 million), equal to five times its annual sales, for Kuvan, plus up to EUR 185 million ($207 million) in additional milestones for both products. The agreement is expected to become effective January 1, 2016.

Merck KGaA has acquired the rights for Kuvan and the option to Peg-Pal in markets outside of the US and Japan from BioMarin in 2005.,

Source: Merck KGaA