Perrigo Company has transferred a portfolio of preclinical research assets, which it acquired through its December 2013 acquisition of Elan Corporation plc, to drug discovery and development company, Imago Pharmaceuticals. Under the terms of the agreement, Perrigo will receive an upfront payment in addition to multiple development-related milestone payments and royalties on any future sales derived from the portfolio.

Perrigo’s Chairman and CEO, Joseph C. Papa stated, “This transaction demonstrates our commitment to focusing our development efforts to those projects where we can best fulfill our ‘Quality, Affordable Healthcare Products®’ mission. Through this sale, we are putting this promising portfolio in the hands of the Imago team to use their expertise to progress them through the development process and, hopefully, improve the lives of patients in the future.”

“We are pleased to have acquired these preclinical assets from Perrigo. They contribute to our internal drug development program by providing drug candidates directed against stress kinase family members,” said Irene Griswold-Prenner, Ph. D., Co-Founder of Imago Pharmaceuticals. “These preclinical assets will provide additional value through strategic partnering with third-parties on a subset of these assets,” added Karen Chen, Ph. D., Co-Founder of Imago Pharmaceuticals. “Included in this acquisition are intellectual property, drug candidates and a 500,000 compound CNS-focused, diversity-driven small-molecule library.”

JRG Ventures, LLC, a multinational retained business development and corporate growth strategy firm specializing in Life Sciences, Healthcare, Health Technology, and novel disruptive technology environments advised Perrigo on this transaction.