BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Valuing vouchers

What is driving value of Priority Review vouchers?

June 1, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

With the clock ticking on FDA's rare pediatric disease Priority Review voucher program and only one left unsold, it's hard to say whether the huge step-ups in valuations are a function of scarcity, or a pure reflection of the value of a three-month shortcut to market for the purchasers.

On Wednesday Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY) bought its second voucher, this time for $245 million from Retrophin Inc. (NASDAQ:RTRX). The price consists of $150 million up front and two installments of $47.5 million - one in 2016 and another in 2017...