Sorry for those too young to not get the Price Pfister reference. That said, shares of Pfenex Inc. (NYSE American:PFNX) are atop all percentage gainers amongst NYSE American-listed stocks in Tuesday morning trading with news on milestone payments and an updated license deal with Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ).
In July 2016, Pfenex and Jazz entered into an agreement under which Jazz was granted worldwide rights to develop and commercialize multiple early-stage hematology product candidates of Pfenex. The agreement also included an option for Jazz to negotiate a license for a recombinant pegaspargase product candidate with Pfenex.
Under the agreement, Pfenex received $15 million upfront and was eligible to receive additional $165 million based upon certain developmental, regulatory and sales milestones being achieved.
Pfenex may also be eligible to receive tiered royalties on worldwide sales of any products resulting from the partnership.
Under the amended deal announced today, Pfenex will be eligible to receive an additional $43.5 million in amendment fee and development milestone payments as compared to the 2016 agreement, bringing the total possible due to Pfenex to $224.5 million.
Pfenex also said that development milestones being met resulted in it earning $13.5 million in payments this quarter, as well as another $5.0 million coming the company's way related to signing the modified agreement. The $18.5 million in payments means there is still another $189.25 million on the table in the future.
Shares of PFNX have been spiraling lower all year (since hitting an all-time high in mid-2015 in reality), losing 77% of their value by falling from $9.07 at the end of 2016 to close Monday at $2.08.
By printing $3.59 in morning action, shares hit their highest level since September 11 on the news. The stock has pulled back modestly to $3.23 since, still representing a gain of 55.3% so far on the day.
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