Novo Nordisk A/S and Emisphere Technologies, Inc. Announce Licence Agreement

Novo NordiskEmisphere Technologies, Inc. (OTC BB: EMIS) and Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) have entered into an exclusive Development and Licence Agreement to develop and commercialise oral formulations of Novo Nordisk's insulins, which have the potential of treating diabetes, using Emisphere's Eligen® Technology. This is the second licence agreement between the two companies. The first agreement for the development of oral formulations of GLP-1 receptor agonists was signed in June 2008 with a potential drug currently in a phase 1 clinical trial.

The insulin agreement includes 57.5 million US dollars in potential product development and sales milestone payments to Emisphere, of which 5 million dollars will be payable upon signing, as well as royalties on sales. Further financial details of the agreement were not made public.

"This is an encouraging agreement on a promising technology for oral administration of proteins. We are delighted to continue working with Emisphere and their Eligen® Technology. It fits very well with Novo Nordisk's strategy within diabetes research," said Peter Kurtzhals, senior vice president, Diabetes Research Unit at Novo Nordisk.

This extended partnership with Novo Nordisk is important for Emisphere for several reasons, said Michael V. Novinski, president and chief executive officer of Emisphere. "To date, our collaboration with Novo Nordisk has been very productive, and today's agreement has the potential to offer significant new solutions to millions of people with diabetes worldwide. Finally, it also serves to further validate our Eligen® Technology."

Emisphere's broad-based drug delivery technology platform, known as the Eligen® Technology, uses proprietary, synthetic chemical compounds, known as Emisphere delivery agents, sometimes called carriers. Emisphere's Eligen® Technology makes it possible to deliver a therapeutic molecule without altering its chemical form or biological integrity.

About Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 87 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 30,100 employees in 76 countries, and markets its products in 179 countries. Novo Nordisk's B shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen (Novo-B). Its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NVO).

About Emisphere
Emisphere is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the unique and improved delivery of therapeutic molecules or nutritional supplements using its proprietary Eligen® Technology. The Eligen® Technology can be applied to the oral route of administration as well as other delivery pathways such as buccal, rectal, inhalation, intra-vaginal or transdermal.

Most Popular Now

AstraZeneca enters license agreement with KYM Bios…

AstraZeneca and KYM Biosciences Inc.* have entered into a global exclusive licence agreement for CMG901, a potential first-in-class antibody drug conjugate (ADC) targetin...

Pfizer receives positive FDA Advisory Committee vo…

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted that avail...

First nasal monoclonal antibody treatment for COVI…

A pilot trial by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, tested the nasal administration of the ...

US FDA Advisory Committee votes to support effecti…

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted that the avail...

"Semantic similarity" leads to novel dru…

The words that researchers use to describe their results can be harnessed to discover potential new treatments for Parkinson's disease, according to a new study published...

Tumour cells' response to chemotherapy is driven b…

Cancer cells have an innate randomness in their ability to respond to chemotherapy, which is another tool in their arsenal of resisting treatment, new research led by the...

Engineered bacteria find tumors, then alert the au…

Combining discoveries in cancer immunology with sophisticated genetic engineering, Columbia University researchers have created a sort of "bacterial suicide squad" that ...

Nanosatellite shows the way to RNA medicine of the…

The RNA molecule is commonly recognized as messenger between DNA and protein, but it can also be folded into intricate molecular machines. An example of a naturally occur...

Gene and cell therapies to combat pancreatic cance…

Pancreatic cancer is an incurable form of cancer, and gene therapies are currently in clinical testing to treat this deadly disease. A comprehensive review of the gene an...

Digital twin opens way to effective treatment of i…

Inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis have complex disease mechanisms that can differ from patient to patient with the same diagnosis. This means that currently...

Pfizer's ZAVZPRET™ (zavegepant) migraine nasal spr…

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ZAVZPRET™ (zavegepant), the first and only calcitonin gene-related peptid...

AI conjures proteins that speed up chemical reacti…

For the first time, scientists have used machine learning to create brand-new enzymes, which are proteins that accelerate chemical reactions. This is an important step in...