SAN DIEGO, Dec. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (HALO) today announced a global collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) to develop and commercialize products combining proprietary Lilly compounds with Halozyme's ENHANZE™ platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, Halozyme will receive an initial $25 million payment, followed by milestone payments of up to $160 million for each of up to five collaboration targets valued at up to $800 million. These payments are subject to Lilly's achievement of specified development, regulatory and sales-based milestones. In addition, Lilly will pay Halozyme mid-single digit royalties if products under the collaboration are commercialized.
The Halozyme ENHANZE platform is based on a proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme (rHuPH20) that temporarily degrades hyaluronan -- a chain of natural sugars in the body -- to aid in the dispersion and absorption of other injected therapeutic drugs. For Lilly, this technology may allow for more rapid delivery of injectable medications through subcutaneous delivery.
"We are pleased to collaborate with innovators like Halozyme as we develop our pipeline assets and optimize them for the clinic," said Divakar Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., vice president of delivery and device research and development at Lilly. "Halozyme's ENHANZE technology will provide a platform for our scientists to optimize delivery of Lilly medicines through subcutaneous injection."
"Lilly is one of the most respected brands and innovators in pharmaceutical development and we are pleased to support their pipeline with our ENHANZE technology platform," said Dr. Helen Torley, president and chief executive officer. "Through collaborators like Lilly, we see a growing opportunity to work both at an earlier stage of drug development as well as with products that are entering the clinic on formulations that have the potential to benefit patients worldwide."
Other top pharmaceutical and biotech companies collaborating with Halozyme include Roche, Baxalta, Pfizer, Janssen and AbbVie.
About ENHANZE™
ENHANZE™ is Halozyme's proprietary drug delivery platform based on its patented recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme (rHuPH20). rHuPH20 has been shown to remove traditional limitations on the volume of biologics that can be delivered subcutaneously (just under the skin). By using rHuPH20, some biologics and compounds that are administered intravenously may instead be delivered subcutaneously. ENHANZE may also benefit subcutaneous biologics by reducing the need for multiple injections. This delivery has been shown in studies to reduce health care practitioner time required for administration and shorten time for drug administration.
About Halozyme
Halozyme Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing novel oncology therapies that target the tumor microenvironment. Halozyme's lead proprietary program, investigational drug PEGPH20, applies a unique approach to targeting solid tumors, allowing increased access of co-administered cancer drug therapies to the tumor. PEGPH20 is currently in development for metastatic pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer, metastatic breast cancer and has potential across additional cancers in combination with different types of cancer therapies. In addition to its proprietary product portfolio, Halozyme has established value-driving partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies including Roche, Baxalta, Pfizer, Janssen AbbVie and Lilly for its drug delivery platform, ENHANZE™, which enables biologics and small molecule compounds that are currently administered intravenously to be delivered subcutaneously. Halozyme is headquartered in San Diego. For more information visit www.halozyme.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
In addition to historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements concerning the possible activity, benefits and attributes of ENHANZE, the possible method of action of ENHANZE, its potential application to aid in the dispersion and absorption of other injected therapeutic drugs, the number of collaborative targets actually chosen, whether such products are ultimately developed or commercialized, whether milestones triggering milestone payments will be achieved, and statements concerning facilitating more rapid delivery of injectable medications through subcutaneous delivery that involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are typically, but not always, identified through use of the words "believe," "enable," "may," "will," "could," "intends," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "predict," "probable," "potential," "possible," "should," "continue," and other words of similar meaning. Actual results could differ materially from the expectations contained in forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including unexpected expenditures and costs, unexpected results or delays in development and regulatory review, regulatory approval requirements, unexpected adverse events and competitive conditions. These and other factors that may result in differences are discussed in greater detail in both Halozyme and Lilly's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Halozyme and Lilly undertake no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
Contacts:
Jim Mazzola
858-704-8122
[email protected]
Chris Burton
858-704-8352
[email protected]