Lilly announces licensing agreement with OSI

Eli Lilly has announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Prosidion, the diabetes and obesity subsidiary of OSI Pharmaceuticals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will acquire exclusive rights to the company’s glucokinase activator programme that includes the PSN010 compound. Lilly will pay OSI an initial licence fee of $25 million (12.93 million pounds) with further potential payments of up to $360 million plus royalties, following the attainment of development and sales milestones.

David Moller, vice president of endocrine and cardiovascular research and clinical investigation at Lilly, commented that the agreement would assist in improving the company’s early-stage research and development pipeline while enhancing a core therapeutic area.

“We are committed to maintaining our leadership role in diabetes care, including addressing the increasing prevalence of type two diabetes,” he said.

He added that the company would continue to investigate novel compounds to add to its drug portfolio for the treatment of diabetes.

In 2005, Lilly signed a licensing agreement with Taisho Pharmaceutical for an oral DPP-IV inhibitor in all countries worldwide bar Japan and China.

The compound, TS-021, was then undergoing phase I clinical trials for the treatment of type two diabetes.