Acorda Therapeutics Licenses Rights to Investigational Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR today announced that it has licensed worldwide development and commercialization rights to a proprietary magnesium formulation from Medtronic, Inc. MDT, which will be referred to as AC105. Acorda plans to study AC105 as an acute treatment for patients who have suffered neurological trauma, such as a spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. Acorda made a $3 million upfront payment to Medtronic and will make up to $32 million in regulatory and development milestone payments. A single-digit sales royalty will also be paid by Acorda to Medtronic if AC105 is commercialized by Acorda. Acorda's development and commercialization rights are exclusive in all fields for certain formulations of the licensed compound. For other formulations, Acorda's rights are exclusive for indications of interest to Acorda, including SCI, TBI, stroke and all other traumatic and ischemic central nervous system indications, while Medtronic has non-exclusive (with Acorda) development rights in specific areas, including certain areas of pain and musculoskeletal indications.