Rigel Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: RIGL) has closed its exclusive global license for Veppanu (vepdegestrant), paying USD 70 million upfront to Arvinas (Nasdaq: ARVN) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) — each receiving USD 35 million — for the first FDA-approved PROTAC in history. The deal, effective June 11, transfers commercialization rights for an approved oral estrogen receptor degrader to the San Francisco-based Rigel, a biotech with no prior presence in breast cancer. Rigel expects to launch Veppanu commercially in August 2026.
The closing follows the original agreement announced May 12, 2026, under which Rigel will pay an additional USD 15 million upon completion of manufacturing and development transition activities, contribute up to USD 40 million toward ongoing development activities over four years, and is eligible to pay up to USD 320 million in regulatory and commercial milestones. Arvinas and Pfizer are entitled to tiered royalties ranging from mid-teens to mid-twenties percent on net sales, plus a share of sublicensing revenue Rigel generates outside the US.
Vepdegestrant is the first approved PROTAC therapy, designed to degrade rather than simply inhibit the estrogen receptor. FDA approval on May 1, 2026 was based on data from VERITAC-2 (NCT05654623), a global, randomized Phase III trial comparing vepdegestrant to fulvestrant in patients with ER+/HER2-, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
The deal's economics are strikingly compressed relative to the asset's history. When Pfizer originally partnered with Arvinas in July 2021 for vepdegestrant's co-development, Pfizer paid USD 650 million upfront under a deal worth up to USD 1.4 billion plus a 50/50 profit share. Rigel's USD 70 million upfront — for a post-approval, global asset — represents roughly a 90% discount from that original payment, highlighting the difference between the economics of an early-stage development partnership and a commercial-stage asset with a defined label.