Coherus BioSciences Inc CHRS shares are trading higher after the company agreed to divest its Cimerli ophthalmology franchise to Sandoz Group AG SDZNY SDZXF for $170 million plus an additional amount for inventory.
This divestiture aligns with Coherus’ strategic focus on oncology, and includes Coherus’ Cimerli biologics license application, ophthalmology sales and select field reimbursement teams, Cimerli product inventory on hand, and access to proprietary commercial software.
“Since entering the ophthalmology market in 2022, we have gained strong market share and created significant value in a non-core therapeutic area by leveraging our buy-and-bill commercial expertise. We believe it is prudent to now monetize these non-core assets to pay down debt, reduce interest costs, and take the opportunity to focus on our core therapeutic area, oncology,” said Denny Lanfear, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coherus. “Additionally, this divestiture will allow us to reduce our headcount and overhead costs, enhancing our sustainable and growing oncology business.”
Coherus’ oncology assets include:
- Udenyca (pegfilgrastim-cbqv) franchise, with three FDA-approved presentations. In December, the FDA approved Udenyca Onbody, the company’s on-body injector, a pegfilgrastim biosimilar administered the day after chemotherapy to decrease the incidence of infection as manifested by febrile neutropenia.
- Loqtorzi (toripalimab-tpzi), an FDA-approved, next-generation PD-1 inhibitor
- An immuno-oncology pipeline.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2024.
Price Action: CHRS shares are up 13.7% at $2.7750 on the last check Monday.
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