USA – Theravance Biopharma is set to buy back all 9.6 million of its shares owned by GSK, part of a US$250 million stock repurchase plan, as it pivots away from legacy respiratory products developed in a longstanding collaboration with the UK drugmaker.

It is also planning a Dutch auction tender offer in the near term to buy approximately US$95 million of its ordinary shares, and will then enter another open-market repurchase plan to acquire roughly US$60 million, adding that it aims to complete the program by the end of next year.

GSK, with a 12.6% stake, is Theravance’s second-largest shareholder, according to data from FactSet.

GSK’s partnership with Theravance goes back to 2002 when the companies agreed to work together on once-daily long-acting inhaled drugs for the treatment of asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Buying out GSK’s stake will help it further unwind from the collaboration with GSK. That partnership resulted in the marketed drugs Breo, Anoro, and Trelegy.

As that collaboration went on, Biopharma Dive reports that Theravance signaled it aimed to do more than be a research partner with GSK.

In 2013, the company split in two. One half became Innoviva, a management company for Breo, Anoro and Trelegy royalties that has now become a biopharma investor in its own right. GSK sold its stake in Innoviva in 2021 for US$392 million.

In 2010, the UK drugmaker invested US$130 million into Theravance, and then boosted its holding to 28.6 percent with the purchase of more shares in 2012 for about US$213 million.

Earlier this year, Theravance sold its royalty rights on global net sales of GSK’s asthma and COPD treatment Trelegy Ellipta to Royalty Pharma for over US$1.5 billion, including an upfront cash payment of around US$1.1 billion, according to FirstWord pharma.

At the time, Theravance indicated it would use part of those funds to help pay for a Phase III study of its ampreloxetine candidate in early 2023.

The once-daily norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor had failed another late-stage study in neurogenic orthostatic hypotension last year.

Theravance Biopharma successfully developed the COPD drug Yupelri, which is marketed by Viatris. Yupelri generated US$44 million in royalties for Theravance in 2021.

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