CRA addressed a claim that a company had improperly failed to pay required development milestones upon termination of a drug development program

In litigation before the Delaware Court of Chancery, a CRA expert was asked to address the basis for a company’s decision to terminate the development of a pharmaceutical product, avoiding the payment of development milestone fees. In considering the company’s actions, CRA’s expert analyzed the evolution over time of the company’s expectations regarding the value of continued development, as measured by expected net present value. Events had caused the expected net present value to decline to a level at which the company reasonably concluded that continued development was not practicable.