Altea Enters Exenatide Patch Pact with Amylin and Lilly

Altea Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with Eli Lilly and Co. and Amylin Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize a daily transdermal patch delivering sustained levels of Byetta (exenatide) using Altea’s PassPort Transdermal Delivery System. The three companies recently completed an initial Phase I study of the exenatide transdermal patch in people with type 2 diabetes.

The exenatide transdermal patch is an investigational product designed to be applied once a day to provide sustained levels of exenatide in people with type 2 diabetes. The patch could potentially eliminate injections for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Lilly and Amylin have exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize transdermal exenatide using Altea’s PassPort. Lilly and Amylin will fund all product development, manufacturing, and commercialization for the product. Altea will receive from Lilly and Amylin an upfront license payment and may receive clinical, regulatory and sales milestones of as much as $46 million, and royalties on future product sales. An equity investment in Altea is included, in the agreement.

“This agreement continues the validation of the Altea Therapeutics transdermal patch technology for medicines that currently can be administered only by needle injection or infusion, including water-soluble proteins, carbohydrates, and small molecules,” said Dr. Eric Tomlinson, Ph.D., DSc, president and chief executive officer of Altea Therapeutics. “We believe the diabetes care experience of Lilly and Amylin, combined with the transdermal expertise of Altea Therapeutics, creates an excellent partnership for the potential development of the world’s first transdermal GLP-1 receptor agonist, transdermal exenatide.”

“The agreement to develop a transdermal patch for exenatide is aimed at responding more broadly to the needs of the patients we serve by offering more treatment choices, such as the Altea Therapeutics non-injectable delivery option, for this important medicine,” said Orville G. Kolterman, M.D., senior vice president of R&D at Amylin.