Ascendis Pharma and Novo Nordisk has signed an exclusive worldwide license to its TransCon technology platform.
The pharmaceutical giant will use the tech to develop, manufacture and commercialise therapeutics for metabolic diseases — including obesity and type II diabetes.
Under the terms of the agreement, Novo Nordisk will also have a product-by-product exclusice license in cardiovascular diseases as well.
Novo Nordisk will also receive the exclusive right to expand any resulting metabolic disease products into other therapeutic areas.
Through this collaboration, Novo Nordisk and Ascendis Pharma are developing a monthly GLP-1 receptor agonist that will target obesity and type II diabetes.
Ascendis will be eligible to receive payments of up to USD $285m through this partnership, with reimbursement coming from upfront, development and regulatory milestone payments for its lead GLP-1 programme.
The company could also receive sales-based milestone payments and tiered royalties on global net sales.
For each metabolic or cardiovascular disease product candidate, Ascendis will be eligible to receieve payments of up to $77.5m in milestone payments — plus tiered royalties on global net sales.
As agreed, Ascendis will be responsible for the early development of TransCon product candidates, while Novo Nordisk will cover the costs of the process, alongside any clinical, regulatory, commercial manufacturing and commercialisation costs.
Senior VP of Global Research Technologies at Novo Nordisk, Brian Vandahl, said: “Developing potential therapies that can be administered less frequently could benefit societies as well as individual patients, and it is a clear focus area for Novo Nordisk,”
“We look forward to working with Ascendis to explore the potential of the TransCon technology platform to reduce the dosing frequency of GLP-1 receptor agonists and other treatments for cardiometabolic diseases.”
President and CEO of Ascendis Pharma, Jan Mikkelsen, added: “We are pleased to collaborate with Novo Nordisk, an established expert in metabolic diseases, to maximise the potential of TransCon products for helping patients,”
“The agreement with Novo Nordisk reflects our Vision 2030 to create value in additional large therapeutic areas outside endocrinology rare disease through collaborations with established global leaders.”