BridgeBio Pharma, Bayer agree on licensing deal for heart disease drug in Europe

March 4 (Reuters) - BridgeBio Pharma has granted German drugmaker Bayer an exclusive license to commercialize its heart disease drug in Europe, the companies said on Monday.

The experimental drug, acoramidis, is being developed as an oral treatment for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, in which abnormal deposits of a protein called amyloid build up in the heart and can cause the organ to fail.

BridgeBio will receive up to $310 million, consisting of upfront and near-term milestone payments, as well as additional undisclosed sales milestones.

The U.S. drugmaker will also receive tiered royalties beginning in the low-thirties percent on sales of acoramidis in Europe.

"This partnership leverages Bayer's established European cardiovascular infrastructure and enables us, via substantial cost-savings, to focus our resources on our wholly owned geographies for acoramidis, including preparing for the U.S. launch," said Ananth Sridhar, senior vice president of corporate development at BridgeBio.

Acoramidis showed significant improvement in patients in a late-stage study in July. It was 1.8 times better than placebo when measured for preventing death, hospitalization and improvement in 6 minutes walking distance.

The U.S. health regulator has set an action date of Nov. 29, while a potential approval in the European Union is expected in 2025.

If approved, the drug is expected to compete with Pfizer's Vyndamax, or tafamidis, which is already approved in the U.S. for the condition. (Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)