Biocon inks pact with Amylin to develop diabetes therapy

Bangalore-headquartered Biocon and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc today announced that they have entered into an exclusive agreement to jointly develop, commercialise and manufacture a novel peptide therapeutic for the potential treatment of diabetes.     

Amylin and Biocon would collaborate to develop the therapeutic potential of the compound and share development costs.     

Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, "Amylin's knowledge of peptide therapeutics and their leadership in the diabetes market, paired with Biocon's capabilities in process development, manufacturing and clinical development provides this global program the potential to bring a novel therapy to patients living with diabetes."     

The research would centre on Amylin's "phybrid" technology. A phybrid is a hybrid molecule that combines the pharmacological effects of two peptide hormones into a single molecular entity, Biocon said in a statement.     

Under the terms of the development and commercialisation agreement, Amylin would provide expertise in peptide hormone development, particularly in the area of phybrid technology, as metabolic disease therapeutics, it said.     

Biocon would utilise its expertise to manufacture the compound and also leverage its experience in pre-clinical and clinical development of diabetes products, the company said.