Eli Lilly has stepped in to ink a worldwide license on Zosano Pharma's recipe for parathyroid hormone 1-34 dubbed ZP-PTH, which is delivered via its microneedle patch system to treat osteoporosis. The drug has wrapped Phase II and is now on the threshold of a late-stage program.
Fremont, CA-based Zosano, a spinoff of J&J ($JNJ), gets a relatively small $15 million equity buy-in from Lilly ($LLY) when it completes the IPO it filed for last summer as well as up to $425 million in regulatory and sales milestones. If the therapy makes its way to an approval, Zosano will handle the manufacturing while Lilly will have the commercial sales rights.
Zosano filed for a $65 million IPO in June. Earlier this year the biotech company inked a deal with Novo Nordisk ($NVO) to use its delivery tech on the diabetes drug semaglutide.
"The treatment of osteoporosis has advanced significantly in recent years, and if approved Zosano's microneedle patch system could offer a potentially innovative way to deliver this important medicine," said David Ricks, president of Lilly Bio-Medicines. "Zosano shares our commitment to making life better for the tens of millions of people with osteoporosis around the world, and we look forward to helping advance this potential innovation to improve the patient's experience."
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