Basilea Pharmaceutica - Prompt receipt of milestone payments for Cresemba

Basilea has announced receipt of two separate sales-related milestone payments totalling US$26.25m (CHF23.7m) from licensing partner Pfizer. The milestones relate to sales in Europe (ex-Nordic countries), as well as in China and 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region where Pfizer is the licensing partner. The payments were tiggered by cumulative sales of its antifungal therapy Cresemba exceeding specific thresholds in the aforementioned regions, and we believe this indicates strong continued demand for the drug (13% global share and 34% in the US in best-in-class antifungals as of December 2022, according to IQVIA). As part of the agreement with Pfizer, Basilea is eligible to receive additional potential milestone payments of up to approximately CHF515m, as well as mid-teen royalties based on net sales. We will adjust our model to reflect receipt of these milestone payments slightly sooner than we expected, but overall, these have come within management guided milestones for 2023.