Biohaven files license and assignment agreements for SK Biopharmaceuticals Kv7 deal

Biohaven Ltd. disclosed new contract details in an August 26, 2026 Form 8-K covering its licensing agreement with SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. for the Kv7 ion channel platform led by opakalim (BHV-7000). On August 26, 2026, Biohaven Bioscience Ireland Limited (BBIL), a Biohaven subsidiary, entered into a License Agreement with SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. under which BBIL will grant SKBP an exclusive, royalty-bearing, worldwide license, with sublicense rights, to the Kv7 platform.¹ Opakalim is described as an investigational, selective Kv7.2/7.3 potassium channel activator in Phase 2/3 development for focal epilepsy.¹

Financial terms match earlier disclosures: SKBP will pay BBIL a non-creditable, non-refundable upfront fee of $400 million, split between $350 million at closing and $50 million a year later.¹ BBIL is also eligible for up to $150 million in development and regulatory milestones, plus tiered royalties from the mid-teens to low twenties on U.S. net sales of opakalim and certain other antiseizure products, and mid-single-digit royalties outside the U.S.¹

The filing adds new structural detail. Royalty terms run per product and country, ending at the latest of 10 years after first commercial sale, expiration of regulatory exclusivity, or expiration of the last relevant patent claim.¹ Once a royalty term expires, the license becomes fully paid-up and perpetual in that country; after closing, SKBP may terminate for convenience with notice, and either party may terminate for uncured breach or insolvency.¹

Separately, BBIL and SKBP signed a Partial MIPA Assignment and Assumption Agreement, transferring certain contingent-consideration rights tied to Biohaven's 2022 acquisition from Knopp Biosciences.¹ SKBP will assume up to $245 million in milestone obligations, including $185 million tied to U.S. and EU approval of opakalim and up to $60 million tied to approvals of other Kv7 products, plus a mid-single-digit worldwide royalty.¹ These obligations are separate from and not creditable against SKBP's payments to BBIL under the License Agreement.¹

Post-closing, BBIL will continue the RISE 2 and RISE 3 studies and prepare the opakalim NDA, while SKBP must use commercially reasonable efforts to seek approval and commercialize the drug in the U.S., Europe and Japan.¹ Closing remains subject to antitrust clearance and other customary conditions.¹