Apnimed receives $100M for joint venture
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:03 AM CDT, Wed March 25, 2026
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Apnimed, a pharmaceutical company developing an oral drug product candidate, AD109, that is designed to address a root cause of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), today announced that Shionogi & Co. Ltd (Shionogi) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Apnimed's 50% ownership of Shionogi-Apnimed Sleep Science, LLC (SASS). SASS is a joint venture initially established in 2023, and upon the closing of this transaction, SASS will be wholly-owned by Shionogi. Under the terms of the agreement, Apnimed will receive a $100 million upfront cash payment, a $50 million cash payment upon the achievement of a development milestone related to SASS-002 (sulthiame) and tiered royalties on future commercial sales of any products arising from SASS intellectual property. "This transaction represents a strategic monetization of SASS assets to strengthen our balance sheet and enable us to further focus on the advancement and planned commercialization of our lead product candidate AD109 which has an expected NDA submission date to the FDA in the second quarter of 2026," said Larry Miller, MD, CEO of Apnimed. "We are proud of the valuable collaboration we have built with Shionogi over the past three years and are encouraged by the progress of the SASS programs. We look forward to their continued development under Shionogi's leadership." The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.
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