Ropes & Gray Assisted LianBio Secure Heart Drug Rights for Asia

Ropes & Gray Assisted LianBio Secure Heart Drug Rights for Asia

Ropes & Gray represented LianBio in an agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) under which BMS acquired LianBio's exclusive rights to develop and commercialise the heart drug mavacamten in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand. The agreement terminated LianBio's exclusive license agreement with MyoKardia, Inc., now a wholly owned subsidiary of BMS, which LianBio had entered into in August 2020 to acquire these rights. The agreement was announced on October 24.

Under the agreement, LianBio will receive a $350 million upfront payment and be released from its obligations to pay MyoKardia up to $127.5 million in remaining milestone payments.

Mavacamten, approved in the U.S. as Camzyos, treats symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM), a condition that blocks or reduces blood flow to the body. In April 2023, the China National Medical Products Administration accepted with Priority Review a New Drug Application for mavacamten to treat adults with oHCM.

The Ropes & Gray team representing LianBio was led by Eric Wu (life sciences), Hannah England (life sciences), and Zach Blume (capital markets) and included Tom Danielski (capital markets), Katherine Wang (life sciences), Melissa Rones (IP transactions), David Saltzman (tax), Renata Ferrari (employment & benefits), Rocky Tsai (litigation & enforcement), and Christine Joyce (employment & benefits).