Pharma Watch: Cardiome Earns $30 Million Milestone Payment

September 3, 2010 (FinancialWire) (Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=ftrdnwswnd for all of today’s featured news.) — Cardiome Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ: CRME) said that it has earned a $30 million milestone payment from its collaboration with Merck (which is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada), through an affiliate. The milestone was triggered by the recently announced marketing approval for the firm’s Brinavess in the European Union, Iceland and Norway.

In April 2009, Cardiome and Merck announced a collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of vernakalant. The agreement provides Merck, Sharp and Dohme Corp. with exclusive global rights to vernakalant oral formulation for the maintenance of normal heart rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation, and provides another Merck affiliate, Merck Sharp & Dohme GmbH, with exclusive rights outside of the United States, Canada and Mexico to vernakalant IV formulation for rapid conversion of recent onset AF to sinus rhythm in adults.

Canada-based Cardiome Pharma is a drug development company focused on the advancement and commercialization of novel treatments for disorders of the heart and circulatory system.

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