Marcadia, Eli Lilly sign development, license agreement for short-acting glucagon program

Marcadia Biotech, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced that the companies have signed a development and exclusive license agreement for Marcadia's short-acting glucagon program, covering glucagon analogs that may provide greater convenience and ease-of-use than the current recombinant glucagon for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia. The program includes MAR531, a glucagon analog that is in preclinical development at Marcadia, as well as related backup compounds.

Under the terms of the agreement, Marcadia will continue to oversee development of the compound through regulatory approval in the U.S., while Lilly will be responsible for obtaining regulatory approval in countries outside the U.S. and for commercialization worldwide.  Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

"Glucagon is an important therapeutic for people with diabetes to treat an episode of severe hypoglycemia, but the currently marketed products require  reconstitution from a lyophilized (powder) form before administering an injection," said Enrique Conterno, president of Lilly Diabetes. "A new glucagon therapy that can be stored in solution form at room temperature and supplied in a convenient injection device could be an important advance for patients."

Fritz French, chief executive officer of Marcadia, added, "Lilly's long experience and expertise in diabetes, including its position as the market leader in the glucagon emergency kit space, was an important consideration for Marcadia. Their capabilities, combined with our unique peptide chemistry, which has been instrumental to all of our peptide discovery and development programs, should maximize the potential for this compound to benefit patients suffering from diabetes."

The companies plan to develop the short-acting glucagon analog to be supplied and stored in a single-use auto-injection "pen" device. MAR531 and related backup compounds were discovered through Marcadia's sponsored research agreement with Indiana University, Bloomington.