Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. (TSE:4565) will receive a $10 million milestone payment from Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted an Investigational New Drug application for the Alzheimer’s drug candidate NBI-1117567.
The milestone is triggered by the clearance of the Phase 2 study, with Nxera expected to recognize the full amount as revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026. The payment follows a November 2021 collaboration and licensing agreement between the two companies, which covers the development and commercialization of muscarinic M4, M1, and dual M1/M4 receptor agonists globally for indications including schizophrenia, dementia, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
Under the terms of the agreement, Neurocrine is responsible for global development costs outside of M1 agonists being developed in Japan, where Nxera retains exclusive development and commercialization rights. Neurocrine also maintains co-development and profit-sharing options for certain programs. The partnership includes up to $2.6 billion in potential research and development funding, development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as product royalties if specified criteria are met.
NBI-1117567 is the third molecule in Nxera’s muscarinic agonist portfolio to advance to Phase 2, following the progression of Direclidine (NBI-1117568) to Phase 3 and NBI-1117570 remaining in Phase 2.
