US-based Abeona Therapeutics has signed a deal to sell its priority review voucher for $155m, two weeks after picking up approval in the US for its first commercial product.
The biotech company was eligible for the voucher upon securing a rare paediatric disease designation. A voucher was subsequently given to the biotech after winning approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for gene therapy Zevaskyn (prademagene zamikeracel) late last month. Zevaskyn is a treatment for the rare disease recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).
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Abeona did not disclose the voucher’s buyer, saying only it had entered a definitive asset purchase agreement.
Investors seemed happy with Abeona’s decision, with the company’s stock, listed on the Nasdaq exchange, peaking 16.8% higher in trading yesterday, from $5.27 a share at close on Friday (9 May) to a high of $6.16. The company’s stock later settled at $5.60 a share at market close – a 6.26% increase on the previous trading day. This spike coincides with stock increases across the pharmaceutical sector on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced he would sign an executive order to bring down US drug prices. Abeona has a market cap of $273.27m.
Priority review vouchers are awarded to pharmaceutical companies developing drugs for rare paediatric diseases, neglected tropical diseases, or material threat medical countermeasures – markets that companies are hesitant to enter due to weak financial performance.
Biotechs can use the vouchers to slash the FDA review time of any drug application from the usual ten months to six months. This can be done in a more lucrative market, facilitating a recuperation of funds spent developing the original product. Alternatively, companies can sell their voucher for a quick cash injection – the route opted by Abeona.
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By GlobalDataThe company did not reveal how it plans to use the funds, with CEO Joe Vazzano commenting only that the $155m means the company has “sufficient cash for more than two years of operating expenses without the need for capital infusion.”
Vazzano added that cash projections neither account for sales of Zevaskyn, which has a planned commercial rollout in Q3 2025. It is likely, therefore, that at least part of the funds raised from the voucher sale will go towards the gene therapy’s launch.
Zevaskyn will be priced at $3.1m a dose and is a one-time treatment. Analysis by GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Centre forecasts sales of $366m by 2031.
GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.
Voucher pricing trends
The figure achieved by Abeona in its voucher sale tallies with other recent deals. Zevra sold a voucher in February for $150m, also to an undisclosed party. In November 2024, PTC Therapeutics sold a voucher to an unnamed buyer for $150m.
The highest fee for a voucher still stands at $350m, when AbbVie bought one from United Therapeutics in 2015. Though down from these heights, recent transactions are still a step up from a relatively stable $100m selling price average seen over the past seven years, perhaps a reflection that vouchers now hold more value in an uncertain US funding landscape.
Rare disease development has hit rocky waters amid mass layoffs across US health agencies by the Trump administration. A big setback could arise from the failure to renew the priority review voucher programme for paediatric rare diseases, which expired, in part, due to shifting political priorities. This has cast a blanket of precariousness over future rare disease pipelines.
