Mineralys Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MLYS) has agreed to pay Tanabe Pharma Corporation USD 200 million upfront to extinguish all future royalty obligations on lorundrostat, its oral aldosterone synthase inhibitor, with up to USD 100 million more payable upon achievement of certain commercial milestones. The transaction effectively converts Mineralys from a royalty-burdened licensee into a near-full economic owner of its sole asset. The deal is made around six months before the US FDA's PDUFA target date of December 22, 2026 for the lorundrostat NDA in hypertension. Concurrent with the repurchase, Mineralys entered a USD 500 million senior secured term loan with funds managed by Pharmakon Advisors, LP, with an initial USD 100 million tranche funded at closing, and separately priced a USD 150 million underwritten equity offering at USD 26.50 per share.
Under the amended arrangement, Tanabe has also agreed to subsequently assign its intellectual property rights in lorundrostat to Mineralys. Aggregate future milestone obligations to Tanabe remain at up to USD 265 million, comprising USD 100 million in new commercial milestones and USD 165 million in existing commercial milestones, including up to USD 10 million tied to commercialization in a second indication. The Pharmakon term loan, structured across four tranches, matures in June 2031 and bears interest at SOFR plus 5.50%, subject to a 3.25% SOFR floor.
Deal context
Lorundrostat is a once-daily oral inhibitor of CYP11B2, the enzyme responsible for aldosterone synthesis. By selectively suppressing aldosterone production — with 374-fold selectivity over cortisol synthase in vitro — it is designed to address dysregulated aldosterone, which Mineralys estimates drives hypertension in approximately 30% of all hypertensive patients. The drug has completed six late-stage trials, including the Phase III Launch-HTN trial and the Phase II Advance-HTN trial, both demonstrating statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in systolic blood pressure. New data presented at ESH 2026 in May showed a 9.6 mmHg placebo-adjusted systolic blood pressure reduction in participants with chronic kidney disease and a 52.2% reduction in urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio in those with baseline albuminuria — findings that support potential label expansion beyond hypertension. The FDA accepted the NDA in Q1 2026, with the December 2026 PDUFA date providing the commercial milestone timeline against which the Tanabe repurchase terms are calibrated.
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