aibioMineralys takes ownership of lorundrostat patents but keeps Tanabe milestone debts
Tickers MLYS
A termination agreement ends the license and assigns the patents and know-how to Mineralys. Up to $255.0 million in commercial milestones still applies.
Key facts
- Company
- Mineralys Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLYS)
- News type
- Distress
- Primary source
- Mineralys Therapeutics, Inc. 8-K (2026-10-29)
Mineralys Therapeutics, Inc. and Tanabe Pharma Corporation signed a Termination Agreement on October 27, 2026. It ends their license agreement for lorundrostat and assigns the related patents and know-how to Mineralys. The company disclosed the deal in a Form 8-K filed October 29, 2026 under Items 1.01 and 1.02, signed by Chief Legal Officer and Secretary Jeffrey A. Munsie. The license, dated July 9, 2020, gave Mineralys an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable license to the Tanabe intellectual property. It was amended on November 24, 2020, June 15, 2023, May 29, 2025 and June 2, 2026. Its common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as MLYS.
The milestones that stay
On the same day, the companies signed a Payment Obligation Agreement. Under it, Mineralys remains obligated to pay Tanabe the milestones from the old license: up to $255.0 million on the first commercial sale of lorundrostat and on annual sales targets, and up to $10.0 million more tied to a potential second indication. The 8-K says the termination itself does not remove them.
The old license also said that a change of control, including a sale of the lorundrostat assets or an exclusive license to a third party that includes U.S. rights, would make $100.0 million of those milestones immediately due. The filing defines the continuing obligations to include that $100.0 million. Tanabe also keeps a right of first negotiation on any license of lorundrostat rights in Japan, for as long as any milestone under the new agreement remains unpaid.
Mineralys says it did not incur any material early termination penalties. In return it takes over the patents and know-how. The 8-K describes both agreements in summary, and the full texts are to be filed as exhibits to the 2026 annual report on Form 10-K.
The drug behind the milestones
The annual report describes lorundrostat as an oral aldosterone synthase inhibitor for hypertension and related conditions, including chronic kidney disease (CKD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Tanabe discovered the compound and ran its first-in-human Phase 1 trial. The company submitted a new drug application in December 2025 for hypertension used with other antihypertensive drugs. The FDA accepted it, with a target action date of December 22, 2026. The pivotal program includes Launch-HTN, a Phase 3 trial, and Advance-HTN, a Phase 2 trial, both in uncontrolled or resistant hypertension and reported in March 2025.
The results are mixed. The company says Explore-CKD, a Phase 2 trial reported in June 2025, was highly statistically significant in reducing systolic blood pressure and urinary albumin creatinine ratio, a marker of kidney disease progression. Explore-OSA, a Phase 2 trial with topline data announced March 9, 2026, did not demonstrate a reduction in apnea-hypopnea index. The company says the blood pressure reductions in that trial were clinically meaningful.
The money
The company's annual report shows research and development expense of $132.0 million in 2025, down from $168.6 million in 2024. The net loss was $154.7 million, against $177.8 million, and cash used in operations was $142.4 million, against $166.3 million. Cash and cash equivalents were $114.1 million at the end of 2024.
Quarterly reports show cash and cash equivalents of $172.9 million at the end of 2025 and $138.3 million at June 30, 2026. Against the $255.0 million and $10.0 million in continuing milestones, the June 30 balance is modest. The filings give no payment schedule for those milestones, which depend on a first commercial sale, annual sales targets, a second indication or a change of control.
What comes next
The next fixed date in the record is the FDA action date of December 22, 2026. Until the FDA acts, the continuing milestones and the Japan negotiation right remain open questions for any licensing or sale. The 8-K gives no timetable for a Japan deal, and it gives no date for filing the full agreements beyond the 2026 annual report.