John Forrest

Cooley advised Propella Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company that has leveraged a wholly owned proprietary platform that combines medicinal chemistry with lymphatic targeting to create new oncology drugs, on its merger agreement with Astellas Pharma in which Astellas will acquire Propella through a US subsidiary.

Cooley advised Travere Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, on its definitive agreement to sell its bile acid product portfolio to Mirum Pharmaceuticals.

Cooley advised Tmunity Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, on its agreement to sell to Kite, a global biopharmaceutical company. Partners Mark Weeks, Ben Beerle and Marya Postner led the Cooley team.

Cooley advised Nykode Therapeutics in its license and collaboration agreement with Regeneron for the discovery, development and commercialization of potential new vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Nykode Therapeutics will receive a $30 million upfront payment and a $20 million equity investment at a premium of 20% on a 30-day volume weighted average price of the Nykode Therapeutics share for the last 30 trading days before the effective date of the agreement. Additionally, Nykode Therapeutics will potentially be eligible to receive more than $875 million in milestone payments, plus high single-digit to low double-digit tiered royalties on sales of commercialized products arising from the collaboration, bringing the total potential value of the agreement to more than $925 million, plus royalties.

Lawyers Ken Krisko, Christophe Beauduin, John Forrest, Marya Postner and Hajra Nashin led the Cooley team advising Nykode.