Benzinga | Jun 16, 2021 07:05AM EDT

Atea Pharmaceuticals Announces Achievement of AT-527 Development Milestone Under License Agreement with Roche; Expects To Receive A Related Payment Of $50M

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) ("Atea"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of oral therapeutics for severe viral infections, today announced that it has achieved a milestone associated with the development of AT-527 and expects to receive a related payment under its license agreement with Roche of $50 million ((SIX: RO, ROG, OTCQX:RHHBY). Under the license agreement, Roche and Atea are jointly developing AT-527 for the treatment of COVID-19. Atea retains rights to commercialize AT-527 in the United States and Roche has the exclusive right to commercialize AT-527 outside of the United States. AT-527 is an orally administered, direct-acting antiviral developmental agent derived from Atea's purine nucleotide prodrug platform and is in Phase 3 development for the treatment of COVID-19.

"Working closely with our strategic collaborator Roche, this achievement is reflective of the continual rapid advancement of the AT-527 program," said Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Atea Pharmaceuticals. "The realization of this milestone brings us one step closer to our goal of providing an easily administered oral, direct-acting antiviral in the fight against this global pandemic."

Direct-acting antivirals, such as AT-527, aim to prevent disease progression by minimizing or eliminating viral replication and thereby reducing the severity of the disease, preventing or shortening hospitalization, and also potentially preventing transmission of the virus to others. Atea believes this makes AT-527 well-suited for potential use in both pre- and post-exposure prophylactic settings and complementary to vaccines.