Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX)

[DewDiligence]

Status of Tyzeka

For the benefit of readers who are relatively new to IDIX and do not know all the history, it’s worth reiterating that Tyzeka (a.k.a. Sebivo outside the US) is now entirely owned by NVS pursuant to an agreement between NVS and IDIX in Sep 2007 (#msg-23242360).

As a consequence of this 2007 agreement, there is only one Tyzeka-related matter relevant to current IDIX investors: the size of the royalty stream that NVS pays to IDIX.

On IDIX’s 4Q08 CC, CFO Ron Renaud stated that these royalties will come to approximately $4M in 2009. I estimate that the Tyzeka royalty stream has a fair market value of about $25M, although there is no indication that IDIX is planning to monetize this asset (#msg-35710357).