Under the terms of the agreement, OSI could receive up to $360 million in potential and other payments, plus royalties on sales of any compounds successfully commercialized from the program.
“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.”
Glucokinase activators (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 through OSI’s subsidiary Prosidion’s diabetes and obesity research efforts. The project arose from a research collaboration with the Vanderbilt University Diabetes Center and Tanabe Seiyaku.