Zealand sells its rights to Takeda’s blood cancer drug for $100M ahead of FDA approval decision

Now accepting nominations for the Fierce Innovation Awards - Submit your application today Biotech Zealand sells its rights to Takeda’s blood cancer drug for $100M ahead of FDA approval decision By James Waldron Aug 13, 2026 5:05am Zealand Pharma Royalty Pharma hematology royalties As the FDA mulls whether to approve Takeda and Protagonist Therapeutics’ rusfertide, Zealand Pharma has sold its own rights to the blood cancer drug in return for $100 million. Takeda and Protagonist are expecting a decision from the FDA in the third quarter, based on a phase 3 trial that linked the peptide hepcidin mimetic to a 76.9% response rate in patients with polycythemia vera (PV). Rusfertide mimics the action of hepcidin, a natural hormone that regulates iron homeostasis and red blood cell production.

Protagonist has previously touted the drug as a way for PV patients to reduce or even eliminate the need for regular phlebotomy. Takeda paid Protagonist $300 million upfront for rights to the drug candidate in 2024, but Zealand’s history with rusfertide stretches back to 2012, when the Danish biopharma entered a research collaboration with Protagonist to develop disulfide-rich peptides (DRPs). That agreement gave Zealand responsibility for clinical development of any resulting DRPs discovered under the collaboration.

The partnership was terminated in 2014, but Zealand retained an economic interest in what would become rusfertide. Now, Copenhagen-based Zealand has agreed to sell its economic interests in the drug to Royalty Pharma for a total of $100 million. This payout will consist of $50 million upfront, with the remaining $50 million due a year later.

Even after the deal, Zealand will still be entitled to 0.25% royalties on net global sales of rusfertide above $1.5 billion. For its part, Royalty will gain 0.75% royalties on sales above the same point. Zealand, which described rusfertide as a “non-core asset,” had 14.4 billion Danish kroner ($2.2 billion) in the bank at the end of June.

The company said the fresh cash could help fund its strategy to launch five products by 2030. These include obesity plays like the amylin analog petrelintide, which is set to enter phase 3 trials in the coming months, and the Boehringer Ingelheim-partnered glucagon/GLP-1 agonist survodutide, which is already in late-stage development. “This agreement converts a future potential royalty stream into immediate capital that will be redeployed against future growth opportunities in line with our key strategic priorities under our Metabolic Frontier 2030 strategy,” Zealand’s Chief Financial Officer Henriette Wennicke said in an August 12 release.

As the world’s largest buyer of biopharma royalties, the agreement with Zealand follows a string of deals this year that has seen Royalty secure a stake in Neurimmune’s AstraZeneca-partnered transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis drug, co-fund Johnson & Johnson’s chronic autoimmune disease asset and support Teva’s vitiligo therapy. Royalty’s relationship with Zealand stretches back to 2018, when the firm bought a slice of the rights to two diabetes drugs, Soliqua and Adlyxin, which were both developed at Zealand before being licensed to Sanofi. “We are delighted to expand our relationship with Zealand Pharma through a second collaboration, supporting the company as it continues to advance its innovative pipeline of medicines for obesity and metabolic health,” Royalty CEO Pablo Legorreta said.

“This transaction underscores Royalty Pharma’s role as a long-term, trusted partner to biopharma companies as they advance important medicines,” Legorreta added in the release. “Furthermore, we believe rusfertide has the potential to become a transformative treatment option for patients with polycythemia vera, and we look forward to its continued progress through regulatory review.” Zealand Pharma Royalty Pharma hematology royalties Takeda Protagonist Therapeutics Deals Biotech