The transaction, latest in a series of biotech deals by major drug firms facing the prospect of patent cliff for their blockbuster drugs, will exceed $500m if several milestones for development, regulatory approval and sales are met, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The deal is expected to expand Merck’s diabetes portfolio at a time when most of the drug makers are finding it difficult to discover new therapies that are safe and easier to use than the current available treatments.
SmartInsulin consists of a layered, biocompatible and biodegradable polymer-therapeutic that is bound to an engineered glucose-binding molecule. Insulin is released from SmartInsulin only when the therapeutic is unbound by the presence of a specific glucose concentration.
The base patent was filed in 2003 and SmartCells holds an exclusive license to the technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the company’s founders developed the technology on which SmartInsulin is based.
The technology makes it possible to auto-regulate the release of a therapeutic based on the plasma concentration of a molecular indicator.
SmartCells said SmartInsulin, which is in pre-clinical (non-human) testing, has demostrated, both in in-vivo and in-vitro studies, safe control of blood glucose levels and reversible response to glucose challenges.