Lilly will make an upfront payment of up to $50m to Regor, in addition to potential milestone payments of up to $1.5bn, and tiered royalties
Eli Lilly and Company's Corporate Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Credit: Momoneymoproblemz/Wikipedia.)
Lilly has entered into a multi-million-dollar research collaboration and licensing deal with Regor Therapeutics to discover, develop and market novel therapies for metabolic disorders.
Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will obtain a licence to select Regor intellectual property, with an option to extend the licence.
The US drugmaker will be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing and marketing of the therapies worldwide, excluding PR China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Regor will receive an upfront payment of up to $50m, which partially includes an equity investment by Lilly, and retains the rights in China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The company may also receive up to $1.5bn in potential prespecified preclinical, clinical development and commercial milestone payments, in addition to tiered royalties.
Lilly diabetes research and clinical investigation vice president Ruth Gimeno said: “Through this collaboration, we will have the opportunity to expand treatment options available to patients suffering from metabolic disorders.
“Regor’s technology will also allow Lilly to further accelerate innovation and deliver breakthrough therapies in obesity and diabetes.”
Regor Therapeutics is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts, US.
It is engaged in the discovery and development of medicines, by leveraging its unique Computer Accelerated Rational Discovery (CARD) Platform.
The company is primarily focused on three therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, and metabolic disorders.
Regor integrates CARD with structural biology, computational chemistry, therapeutic biology, medicinal chemistry, for the discovery and development of molecules.
Regor founder CEO Xiayang Qiu said: “In a little over three years, Regor has established a world-class research organization exemplified by our Computer Accelerated Rational Discovery platform.
“This collaboration is a recognition for Regor’s core technology and research capabilities, but more importantly, it is an extraordinary opportunity to discover, develop and commercialize novel therapeutics to help the millions of patients in the world.
“We are pleased to establish this strategic collaboration with Lilly, a top global leader in metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.”
In August this year, Lilly entered into a research and licensing collaboration with Lycia Therapeutics to discover, develop and commercialise novel targeted therapeutics using the latter’s protein degradation technology.