Date: 2013-06-17
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: enteroendocrine cell (EEC) programme
Company: MedImmune (USA - global biologics arm of AstraZeneca (UK) NGM Biopharmaceuticals (USA)
Therapeutic area: Metabolic diseases
Type agreement: R&D development commercialisation
Action mechanism: EECs represent less than 1% of all gastrointestinal (GI) cells, but produce virtually all of the known GI hormones, including GLP-1. EECs are an underexplored source of novel hormones that could play a major role in the positive and negative regulation of metabolism and glucose homeostasis. NGM has established a proprietary platform capable of isolating and analysing EECs in order to identify novel secreted peptide hormones that are potentially linked to the profound metabolic effects of bariatric surgery and serve as potential targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases.
Disease: type 2 diabetes, obesity
Details: * On June 17, 2013, AstraZeneca has announced that MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, and NGM Biopharmaceuticals, have entered into an exclusive agreement to discover, develop and commercialise novel therapeutics from NGM’s enteroendocrine cell (EEC) programme for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity. MedImmune and NGM will jointly advance first-in-class peptide and antibody drug candidates based on the discovered EEC hormones. MedImmune will have the option to license in these EEC targets, and will be responsible for the global development, manufacture and commercialisation of compounds resulting from the collaboration.
Financial terms: Under the terms of the agreement, MedImmune will make an upfront payment and provide NGM research funding over the course of the collaboration. If certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones are achieved, NGM will be entitled to receive various payments, as well as royalties on worldwide product sales.
Latest news:
