Royalty Pharma and Zealand Pharma enter into rusfertide funding agreement for $100 million
NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Royalty Pharma plc (Nasdaq: RPRX) today announced an agreement for $100 million in funding to Zealand Pharma in exchange for Zealand Pharma’s economics related to rusfertide (PTG-300), a potential first-in-class therapy for polycythemia vera, a rare and chronic blood disorder.
“We are delighted to expand our relationship with Zealand Pharma through a second collaboration, supporting the company as it continues to advance its innovative pipeline of medicines for obesity and metabolic health,” said Pablo Legorreta, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Royalty Pharma. “This transaction underscores Royalty Pharma’s role as a long-term, trusted partner to biopharma companies as they advance important medicines. Furthermore, we believe rusfertide has the potential to become a transformative treatment option for patients with polycythemia vera, and we look forward to its continued progress through regulatory review.”
“We are very pleased to work with Royalty Pharma, a leading funder of life science innovation, on this strategic financial transaction,” said Henriette Wennicke, Chief Financial Officer at Zealand Pharma. “This agreement converts a future potential royalty stream into immediate capital that will be redeployed against future growth opportunities in line with our key strategic priorities under our Metabolic Frontier 2030 strategy.”
Rusfertide is a potential first-in-class therapy that mimics the action of hepcidin, a natural hormone that regulates iron homeostasis and red blood cell production. By targeting the underlying mechanism of iron dysregulation in polycythemia vera, rusfertide aims to reduce excess red blood cell production and help patients achieve sustained hematocrit control. Rusfertide is administered once weekly via subcutaneous self-injection and has been generally well-tolerated in clinical trials to date.
The U.S. FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for the New Drug Application (NDA) for rusfertide for the treatment of adults with polycythemia vera in the third quarter of 2026i and Takeda will be responsible for global commercialization.
Transaction terms
Under the terms of the royalty purchase and sale agreement, Royalty Pharma will provide $100 million to Zealand Pharma in exchange for its economic interests related to rusfertide, including rights to a 1% royalty on potential future global net sales of rusfertide and regulatory and commercial milestones. This consists of $50 million upon closing of the transaction with the remaining $50 million due upon the first anniversary of the closing of the agreement. Zealand Pharma will retain the right to a 0.25% royalty on annual net global sales of rusfertide greater than $1.5 billion, while Royalty Pharma will retain a 0.75% royalty on sales above $1.5 billion.
Background
In June 2012, Zealand Pharma and Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc., entered into a research collaboration agreement to develop disulfide-rich peptides (DRPs). Under the agreement, Zealand Pharma was responsible for preclinical and clinical drug development of DRPs discovered under the collaboration. The research collaboration was terminated in 2014 and Protagonist’s payment obligations to Zealand Pharma were clarified in a settlement agreement reached in 2021. In January 2024, Protagonist and Takeda entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement for rusfertide.
Advisors
Covington, Dechert, Jones Day and Kromann acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma. Goodwin acted as legal advisor to Zealand Pharma.
About Royalty Pharma plc
Founded in 1996, Royalty Pharma is the largest buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and a leading funder of innovation across the biopharmaceutical industry, collaborating with innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and non-profits through small and mid-cap biotechnology companies to leading global pharmaceutical companies. Royalty Pharma has assembled a portfolio of royalties which entitles it to payments based directly on the top-line sales of many of the industry’s leading therapies. Royalty Pharma funds innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry both directly and indirectly – directly when it partners with companies to co fund late-stage clinical trials and new product launches in exchange for future royalties, and indirectly when it acquires existing royalties from the original innovators. Royalty Pharma’s current portfolio includes royalties on more than 35 commercial products, including Vertex’s Trikafta and Alyftrek, GSK’s Trelegy, Roche’s Evrysdi, Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya, Biogen’s Tysabri and Spinraza, Servier’s Voranigo, AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica, Astellas and Pfizer’s Xtandi, Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT, and Gilead’s Trodelvy, and 20 development-stage product candidates. For more information, visit www.royaltypharma.com.
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i Takeda and Protagonist press release, March 2, 2026.
