Realizing the Reata plan

Shareholders in Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. checked a big box in their investment strategy last week when the company signed a deal that includes $450 million in upfront payments and an equity investment. In exchange, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) gets rights outside the U.S. and Asia to bardoxolone, a compound in Phase IIb testing with disease-modifying potential for chronic kidney disease (CKD).

"Assuming we continue to see results like we saw in the Phase IIa trials, we now have all the financing that we should need to get to approval, launch and profitability," according to Jack Nielsen of Novo A/S...