IP Group welcomes licensing agreement between Autifony and Jazz Pharmaceuticals

IP Group welcomed the licensing agreement inked between Autifony, one of its investments, and Nasdaq-listed Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Under the terms of the deal, Autifony, which was specialised in treatments for rare central nervous system disorders and other serious brain diseases would discover and develop drug candidates aimed at two of the associated ion channel targets.

It would receive an upfront payment, as well as being eligible for development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments with a total value of $770m.

The company would also be eligible for tiered royalties on future net sales.

IP Group had a 26.3% stake in Autifony that was valued at £4.6m, with the carrying value set to be reviewed, as usual, ahead of the annual results on the back of the latest news.

The directors' currently anticipated a fair value gain of nearly £5m.

As of 1150 GMT, shares of IP Group were adding 0.88% to 46.10p.