Clovis files for bankruptcy, will keep operating and plans to sell pipeline asset to Novartis

A little over a month since Clovis Oncology fired 115 employees and laid out its dire financial situation, the biopharma company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today.

If the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approves, the company will sell off FAP-2286, a fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-targeting therapeutic candidate, to Novartis. The Swiss pharma would pay $50 million upfront and up to an additional $333.75 million if the drug achieves certain development and regulatory marks, as well as $297 million in future sales milestones.