MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Searchlight Pharma Inc. (“Searchlight” or the “Company”), a private Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company today announced that Orion Corporation (“Orion”) has launched Suvexx® in select countries covered in the 2020 exclusive license and supply agreement (the “License Agreement”) between Nuvo Pharmaceuticals (Ireland) DAC (“Nuvo Ireland”) and Orion, with the product launches continuing into 2024.
Orion is headquartered in Espoo, Finland with its products marketed in over one hundred countries worldwide. In FY2022, Orion generated over EUR1.34 billion in net sales. Orion maintains its own commercial infrastructure in most key European markets with a focus on neurology, oncology, respiratory, pain and women’s health. Orion is a public company trading on the Nasdaq Helsinki exchange under the HEL:ORNBV and HEL:ORNAV ticker symbols.
In December 2020, Searchlight’s wholly owned subsidiary, Nuvo Ireland entered into the License Agreement with Orion for the exclusive right to package, distribute, market and sell Suvexx in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (the “Territory”). Under the terms of that agreement, Orion is responsible for obtaining and maintaining the marketing authorizations for Suvexx in the Territory and for managing all Territory specific commercial activities. The relevant acute migraine prescription treatment market in Europe was valued at over EUR220 million in the past 12 months based on Company estimates.
Nuvo Ireland and Orion have also entered into an amendment to the original License Agreement for the exclusive right to package, distribute, market and sell Suvexx in all remaining E.U. countries outside of the original License Agreement Territory. Orion anticipates filing the marketing authorization application immediately and expects to commercially launch Suvexx in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. during 2024, subject to receipt of marketing authorization and pricing approval. The signing of the amendment triggered an upfront payment of EUR600K by Orion to Nuvo Ireland. Under the terms of the amendment, Nuvo Ireland will be entitled to future sales-based milestone payments, royalties and revenues pursuant to the supply agreement between the parties.
"The launch of Suvexx in Europe is another important milestone for Searchlight and a further indication of the value arising out of the acquisition of Miravo Healthcare earlier this year,” said Mark Nawacki, Searchlight’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “A key component of our growth strategy is to create options for the diversification of our business beyond its Canadian market search, acquisition and commercialization roots. In this vein, we are pleased to expand our Suvexx agreement to encompass the entirety of the E.U. market, and to work with Orion, a partner with proven therapeutic area expertise and an established commercial infrastructure, as a license and distribution partner across the E.U."
About Suvexx
Suvexx is a patent protected, fixed dose combination of naproxen sodium and sumatriptan that was originally developed by the Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc. wholly owned subsidiary POZEN, Inc. (POZEN) in collaboration with Glaxo Group Limited, d/b/a GSK (GSK). The product is formulated with POZEN's patented technology (now owned by Searchlight) of combining a triptan, sumatriptan 85 mg, with an NSAID, naproxen sodium 500 mg and GSK's RT Technology in a single tablet. In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Treximet (the U.S. brand name for Suvexx) for the acute treatment of migraine attacks, with or without aura, in adults. Treximet is currently commercialized in the U.S. by Currax Holdings USA LLC. Searchlight owns the product and intellectual property rights to Suvexx in Canada and its wholly owned subsidiary Nuvo Ireland owns the intellectual property rights to Suvexx outside of Canada.
About Orion Corporation
Orion is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company – a builder of well-being. Orion develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Orion has an extensive portfolio of proprietary and generic medicines and self-care products. The core therapy areas of its pharmaceutical R&D are oncology and pain. Proprietary products developed by Orion are used to treat cancer, neurological diseases and respiratory diseases, among others. Orion's net sales in 2022 amounted to EUR1.34 billion and the company had about 3,500 employees at the end of the year. Orion's A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
About Searchlight Pharma
Searchlight Pharma Inc., headquartered in Montreal, is a leading Canadian-based specialty healthcare company that executes best-in-class search, acquisition, commercialization, and focused development of innovative and unique specialty healthcare products. Following its acquisition of Miravo Healthcare in March 2023, Searchlight’s core promoted products now focus on women’s health, dermatology, allergy, pain management and hospital specialty markets, and its team is committed to improving people’s lives by bringing the right products to market. Follow Searchlight, learn more about what it does, and get to know its product portfolio at www.searchlightpharma.com
