PDL BioPharma purchases portion of royalties on expected sales of AcelRx's Zalviso

PDL BioPharma, Inc. ("PDL") (Nasdaq: PDLI) announced today that it has acquired a portion of the royalties on expected sales of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s ("AcelRx") (Nasdaq: ACRX) Zalviso™ (sufentanil sublingual tablet system) in the European Union, Switzerland and Australia by its commercial partner, Grunenthal. Under the terms of the agreement, PDL has provided AcelRx with gross proceeds of $65 million, and in exchange, PDL will receive 75 percent of the royalties AcelRx receives from Grunenthal as well as 80 percent of the first four commercial milestones subject to a capped amount.

Zalviso is a combination drug and device product which, using a patient controlled dispenser, delivers a sub-lingual formulation of sufentanil, an opioid with a high therapeutic index. It is being evaluated for the treatment of moderate to severe post-operative pain in the hospital setting and could be used in lieu of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA). Zalviso has been submitted for product approval in the European Union and has received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Pending approval, Grunenthal expects to launch Zalviso beginning in the first half of 2016, and PDL expects to begin receiving royalties shortly thereafter.

"We are pleased to be able to provide non-dilutive capital to AcelRx and to add Zalviso to our diversified portfolio of pharmaceutical royalties," stated John P. McLaughlin, president and chief executive officer of PDL BioPharma. "This transaction represents the fifteenth transaction we have completed since launching our initiative to build a portfolio of income generating assets."