Royalty Pharma is a private equity investor firm founded in 1996. It purchases the rights to royalties on future drug sales. It claims to own partial rights to 7 of the top 30 selling drugs in the United States.[1]
As of 2026, it is valued at $26.1 billion (£19.3 billion).[2]
History
Royalty Pharma was founded in 1996 by Pablo Legorreta. Legorreta came to the idea of the company in the early 1990s when while working as a mergers banker at Lazard Frères, he saw a 1987 investment by wealthy clients of PaineWebber in a chemotherapy drug. From this, he realized that drug royalties held major potential. in 1996, he left Lazard and with Rory Riggs, a former PaineWebber banker, raised $60 million to start what would later become Royalty Pharma.[3] Instead of making bets on early stage drug development, Royalty usually buys rights to royalties on regulator approved drugs or drugs that are promising. It buys rights from the patent holders, typically a predetermined percentage of revenue from the new drug after it enters the marketplace.