With the latest license agreement, Novo Nordisk has exclusive rights to commercialize insulin conjugated to HEPtune and non-exclusive rights to leverage the HEPtune technology across other core therapeutic areas including other diabetes care products, human growth hormone therapy, treatment for obesity and for inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s, lupus, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.
Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Caisson will be eligible to receive up to $167m from Novo Nordisk in milestone payments upon achievement of certain predefined clinical, regulatory and commercial objectives plus potential long-term residual royalties.
Caisson Biotech chief scientist Dr Paul DeAngelis noted Novo Nordisk has completed feasibility studies that pre-clinically validate Caisson’s heparosan-based drug delivery technology for product pharmacokinetics and enhanced half-life.
"The HEPtune technology uses heparosan, a naturally occurring sugar polymer produced by the body that is stable and inert in the bloodstream while being biodegradable. Furthermore, HEPtune can be customized with respect to polymer size and conjugation chemistry thus providing flexibility to enhance a variety of therapeutic proteins and peptides," Dr DeAngelis added.