Biocompatibles inks $422M deal for GLP-1 program

The U.K.'s Biocompatibles International has forged a €302.3 million ($422.6 million) licensing agreement with AstraZeneca covering its preclinical glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) analogue for diabetes and obesity. Biocompatibles gets €8.8 million up front to take the program through Phase IIa, at which point AstraZeneca will have the option to pick up all further development work.

"Obviously, if you out-license in preclinical you don't expect to get much," Biocompatibles CEO Crispin Simon told BioWorld International. "So we're very pleased. The program is paid for to Phase IIa, a cost we would otherwise have had to bear ourselves."

If AstraZeneca picks up the option it will pay a €25 million fee, with €37.5 million in milestones up to commercialization and €256 million in sales-related milestones. Biocompatibles is working on finding a new way to deliver the therapy as it beavers away at creating a long-acting formulation of the GLP-1 drug.

- read the article [1] from BioWorld International

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