Covington Advises AstraZeneca on Moderna Therapeutics Deal

Covington Advises AstraZeneca on Moderna Therapeutics Deal

March 25, 2013

LONDON, 25 March, 2013 — AstraZeneca and Moderna Therapeutics announced an agreement to develop and commercialise pioneering messenger RNA therapeutics™ for the treatment of serious cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases as well as cancer. Covington & Burling advised AstraZeneca on the deal, working alongside AstraZeneca’s in-house legal team.

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will make an upfront payment of $240 million. AstraZeneca will have exclusive access to select any target of its choice in cardiometabolic diseases as well as selected targets in oncology over a period of up to five years, for subsequent development of messenger RNA. In addition, Moderna is entitled to an additional $180 million for the achievement of three technical milestones.

The Covington team was led by Lucinda Osborne, and included John Hurvitz and Amy Toro.