Lilly buys rights to glucokinase activators for diabetes therapy

OSI Pharmaceuticals's diabetes and obesity subsidiary, Prosidion Limited based in Oxford, and Eli Lilly have entered into a licensing agreement granting Lilly exclusive rights to OSI's Glucokinase Activator (GKA) programme, which includes the lead compound PSN010.

Under the agreement, OSI will receive an upfront fee of $25 m, up to $360 m in potential development and sales milestones and other payments plus royalties on sales of any compounds successfully commercialised from the programme.

"This in-licensing agreement will help bolster Lilly's early stage pipeline and will augment one of our core therapeutic areas," said David Moller, Lilly, vice-president of endocrine and cardiovascular research and clinical investigation. "We are committed to maintaining our leadership role in diabetes care, including addressing the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes."

GKAs represent a new approach to diabetes therapy. GKAs like PSN010 are designed to attenuate hyperglycemia by rapidly lowering blood glucose levels through a dual mechanism of increasing glucose uptake in the liver and potentiating insulin secretion from the pancreas. PSN010 is currently in Phase I clinical trials. PSN010 was discovered and developed inhouse through Prosidion's diabetes and obesity research efforts.