French diabetes biopharma Adocia said it will look for a new partner for Phase III development of its ultra-fast insulin product BioChaperone® Lispro following Eli Lilly’s unexpected withdrawal from the firms’ existing collaboration and license agreement. Adocia expressed disappointment and surprise that Eli Lilly had pulled out of the potentially $570 million collaboration, signed in December 2014, to develop a BioChaperone-formulated product based on Lilly’s insulin lispro Humalog®. Just last month, Adocia reported successful completion of an insulin pump study under the partnership with Lilly. All rights to BioChaperone Lispro now revert to Adocia at no cost.

Adocia said six clinical trials have already shown the benefits of BioChaperone Lispro compared with Humalog. “Based upon this stage of development, we are convinced that BioChaperone Lispro can improve the lives of people with diabetes, and Adocia will continue to prepare launch of Phase III clinical trials while looking for a new partner,” said Gérard Soula, Adocia chairman and CEO.

Adocia’s BioChaperone technology is designed to stabilize and solubilize protein therapeutics, and so speed the onset and duration of action, improve absorption and bioavailability, and reduce dosage and frequency of administration. Earlier this month, the firm announced that it would focus on developing partnerships for its later-stage products. Also in January, Adocia launched two new BioChaperone programs to combine insulin lispro with pramlintide (AstraZeneca's Symlin®) and with exenatide (AstraZeneca's Byetta®).

The Adocia pipeline now includes four clinical-stage novel insulin formulations. These include two ultra-rapid formulations of insulin analogs (BioChaperone Lispro U100 and U200), a rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U100), and a combination of basal insulin glargine and rapid-acting insulin lispro (BioChaperone Combo). The Adocia preclinical pipeline includes an aqueous formulation of human glucagon, two combinations of insulin glargine, and two combinations of insulin lispro. During August 2016, the firm ended development of a BioChaperone platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) foot ulcer candidate, following failure in a Phase III study.

 

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