Scios, Quintiles deal

QTRN will provide $35 million to commercialize SCIO’s Natrecor nesiritide for acute decompensated congestive heart failure, of which $10 million will be paid to SCIO within six months following product launch. QTRN’s Innovex unit will create a 180-person sales force to launch Natrecor, and QTRN expects to receive $100 million in payments from SCIO over the term of the three-and-a-half year agreement. SCIO will grant QTRN warrants for 700,000 shares at $20 per share that will vest over three years. QTRN will receive royalties on sales from 2003 to 2007, and SCIO has the option to acquire the sales force in 2005. QTRN said it expects the agreement to be accretive to its earnings per share as soon as Natrecor is launched, which the partners expect in the third quarter. ...