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Zealand Pharma A/S, a biotechnology company transforming the future of metabolic health, announced that it has entered into a royalty purchase and sale agreement with Royalty Pharma plc 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.
Under the terms of the royalty purchase and sale agreement, Zealand Pharma will receive USD 100 million for the sale of its economic interests related to rusfertide, including rights to one percent royalty on potential future global net sales of rusfertide and regulatory and commercial milestones. Of the USD 100 million, Zealand Pharma will receive an upfront payment of USD 50 million upon closing of the transaction. The remaining USD 50 million is 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 USD 1.5 billion, while Royalty Pharma will retain a 0.75% royalty on sales above USD 1.5 billion.
“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.”
“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.”
The US FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for the NDA for rusfertide for the treatment of adults with polycythemia vera in the third quarter of 2026 and Takeda will be responsible for global commercialization.
In June 2012, Zealand Pharma and Protagonist Therapeutics entered into a research collaboration agreement to develop disulfide-rich peptides. 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.
The purchase and sale agreement closed today, August 12, 2026. Goodwin acted as legal advisor to Zealand Pharma. Covington, Dechert, Jones Day and Kromann acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma.
Rusfertide is a first-in-class investigational subcutaneous treatment 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.
Zealand Pharma has more than 25 years of peptide R&D expertise with a proprietary data platform that leverages advanced data driven and AI/ML approaches, Zealand Pharma aims to lead a new era in obesity and metabolic health. To date, more than ten Zealand Pharma invented drug candidates have entered clinical development, of which two products have reached the market and three candidates are in late-stage development. The company has collaborations with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for research, development, and commercialization.
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.
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