Eli Lilly and Company has entered into a research and collaboration agreement with Swedish biopharmaceutical company BioArctic to advance a potential treatment for neurodegenerative diseases. Under the arrangement, the companies will combine BioArctic’s BrainTransporter Technology with an undisclosed Lilly drug candidate. BioArctic will receive an upfront payment of $30m and may earn up to $770m in additional milestone payments if development and commercial objectives are achieved. The company is also entitled to tiered mid-single-digit royalties on future worldwide sales if the therapy secures regulatory approval and reaches commercial markets.
As part of the collaboration, BioArctic will generate a new drug candidate by linking its proprietary platform with Lilly’s molecule. Following that work, Lilly will assume responsibility for global development activities as well as commercialisation of the resulting product and any associated compounds. BioArctic CEO Gunilla Osswald said: “I’m excited by today’s announcement and proud that a large pharmaceutical company sees potential in our proprietary BrainTransporter technology. Lilly shares our ambition to do more for patients with severe neurological disorders, and this collaboration is a testament to that.” The agreement represents the fourth partnership centred on BioArctic’s platform, while the company retains the right to deploy the technology outside the scope of its existing four collaborations.
The platform is designed for use across multiple therapeutic areas and can support the delivery of a variety of biologics and treatment modalities to the brain. According to the company, the technology is intended to help medicines cross the blood-brain barrier through targeting the transferrin receptor. By enabling active transport into the brain, it is expected to enhance drug distribution while potentially improving efficacy, safety and dosing profiles. The broad applicability of the platform also points to opportunities for additional collaborations in the future.
The latest partnership follows another significant transaction involving Lilly earlier this month. The company signed a licensing agreement valued at up to $1.26bn with Hanmi Pharm covering the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of sonefpeglutide, a LAPS GLP-2 analogue, in global markets excluding Korea. The new agreement with BioArctic further expands Lilly’s activities in neurological research while advancing the development prospects of BrainTransporter Technology.
