Regeneron to pay Roche royalties on Eylea sales

Genentech's spat with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ($REGN) is partly settled. The two companies have been fighting over Regeneron's new injectable eye drug Eylea, which is the first challenger to Genentech's age-related macular degeneration drug Lucentis. Some of the relevant patents are now subject to a licensing deal that gives Genentech a $60 million milestone payment, plus royalties on U.S. sales.

Genentech, the U.S. unit of Roche, has been fighting to protect billions in revenue from its wet AMD drug Lucentis, which was approved in 2006. The company's cancer drug Avastin is also used off-label to treat wet AMD. Until Eylea came along, those two drugs had the wet AMD market to themselves.

Regeneron is on the hook for that $60 million once U.S. Eylea sales reach $400 million. On sales between $400 million and $3 billion, Regeneron will pay a 4.75% royalty, and then 5.5% for sales exceeding $3 billion. The royalties apply on sales through May 7, 2016, Dow Jones reports. The litigation continues on matters not covered by the settlement, according to Regeneron.

- check out the release from Regeneron
- read the Dow Jones story