Theravance Inc. (THRX) announced that shareholders of Elan Corporation plc. (ELN) did not approve the Theravance/Elan royalty participation transaction proposal at Elan's Extraordinary General Meeting held in Dublin, Ireland.
"While we are disappointed that Elan's shareholders did not approve this transaction, we are confident in our overall strategy, our respiratory programs partnered with GSK and our strategy to deliver value to shareholders," said Rick Winningham, Theravance's Chief Executive Officer.
"Looking forward, we remain focused on Theravance's key priorities in 2013, which are to optimize the US launch of BREO ELLIPTA in the third quarter, focus on seeking regulatory approvals for ANORO ELLIPTA and RELVAR ELLIPTA and to work toward separating its businesses into Royalty Management Co and Theravance Biopharma," Rick Winningham said.
Previously, Theravance said it intends to separate its biopharmaceutical operations and its late stage partnered respiratory assets into two independent publicly traded companies, referred to as Theravance Biopharma and Royalty Management Co, respectively. Theravance Biopharma will be primarily focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of small-molecule medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need. Royalty Management Co will focus on managing the rights to the significant potential royalty streams from certain products developed under the LABA collaboration with GSK.
Theravance intends for Royalty Management Co to be the primary vehicle for the return of capital. Theravance is currently evaluating the optimal strategies to return capital to stockholders of Royalty Management Co following completion of the separation, including through dividends or the repurchase of shares and/or convertible debt.
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