Amylin Corp., U.K. Firm Sign Development Pact
Amylin Corp., a young San Diego-based biotechnology company developing drugs to treat diabetes and obesity, has signed a collaborative agreement with Glaxo Holdings, the British pharmaceutical giant.
Although financial details of the agreement were not spelled out, Amylin Chairman Howard E. (Ted) Greene said the deal calls for a “significant commitment of resources” by both companies to joint research and development efforts. The two companies would share worldwide marketing rights to any drugs developed in the collaborative effort. Glaxo is not now buying an equity stake in Amylin, Greene said.
Founded in 1987, Amylin’s technology revolves around the organic peptide by the same name produced in the human pancreas that was discovered by Oxford University researchers in 1987. A deficiency of amylin is present in Type I or juvenile diabetes, while an excess of the hormone is present in Type II or adult onset diabetes and in some cases of obesity.
Amylin is developing drugs that would replace amylin in a deficiency and block its production when the hormone is present in excess. However, the company has yet to begin clinical tests of any drugs, and a marketable product is three years or more away, the company said.
The Glaxo deal is the first with an outside drug company for Amylin, which so far has attracted $35 million in venture capital. Employees now total 70, a figure that will grow to 110 over the next year, chief financial officer Marjorie Tillman said Tuesday.
Greene was a co-founder of Hybritech, one of the biotechnology industry’s first success stories, and has invested in a half dozen start-up companies, including Amylin, over the past five years.
Glaxo’s chief technical officer, Richard Sykes, will join Amylin’s board of directors as part of the agreement.
Glaxo reported worldwide sales of $6.3 billion last year and manufactures leading prescription drugs including Zantac, the anti-ulcer drug; Ventolin, a drug for asthma, and Ceftin, an oral antibiotic. The company’s U.S. unit, Glaxo Inc., is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
