Biocon joins hands with Amylin to develop a new peptide drug for diabetes

India’s leading biotherapeutics firm Biocon Ltd has entered into pact with Amylin on diabetes treatment.

Biocon and Amylin will jointly develop, commercialize and manufacture a novel peptide therapeutic for the potential treatment of diabetes, as per the exclusive agreement reached between the companies.

Both Biocon and Amylin will share the development costs of the prospective diabetes molecule. Amylin will provide expertise in peptide hormone development, particularly in the area of phybrid technology, as well as metabolic disease therapeutics.

Biocon will utilize its expertise in recombinant microbial expression to manufacture the compound. Biocon will also responsible for the preclinical and clinical development of diabetes products. Amylin focuses on peptide hormones—molecular chains of amino acids that circulate through the bloodstream and play important metabolic roles.

Amylin takes an integrated biological approach, leveraging the advantages inherent in peptide hormones, such as low toxicology risk and a strong track record of commercial success.

Amylin has a proprietary polypeptide hormone library that includes more than 1,000 potentially valuable biologics taken from nature. These have been synthesized to create a rich source of compounds for ongoing research into functionality, utility, and therapeutic value.

Biocon’s development of the diabetes compound will centre around Amylin’s proprietary “phybrid” technology.

A phybrid is a peptide hybrid molecule that combines the pharmacological effects of two peptide hormones into a single molecular entity.

“This agreement fully leverages the synergistic capabilities of the two companies,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, Ltd, in apress release.

Amylin’s strengths in peptide therapeutics and their leadership in the diabetes market, paired with Biocon’s capabilities in process development,manufacturing and clinical development, provides this global programme with the potential to effectively bring a novel therapy to the market, she said.

The Amylin-Biocon collaboration on the novel diabetes drug could unleash the potential of cutting-edge peptide science to transform the lives of patients with diabetes, according to Daniel M. Bradbury, president and chief executive officer, Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

In July, Biocon tied up with another US-based Mylan to sell monoclonals, biogenerics in US, Europe. As per the pact, Biocon will collaborate with the US-based global generic maker Mylan Inc on developing, manufacturing and commercialization of multiple generic biologic compounds for the global marketplace.

Mylan will have commercialization rights of Biocon’s products in US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and EU. The partnership with Mylan, which claims to have operation in over 140 countries in the world, would catapult Biocon into the highly competitive arena of monoclonal anti-bodies and other biogeneric products in the world. Established in 1978, Biocon Limited is one of India’s premier biotechnology companies.

Biocon, together with its group companies, specializes in biopharmaceuticals, custom research and clinical research which offer products and solutions to partners and customers across the globe.

Based in Bangalore, southern India, Biocon focuses on cancer, diabetes and inflammatory diseases. Biocon has a strong focus in diabetes having launched the world’s first recombinant human insulin, Insugen, using a Pichia based expression system in 2004 and recombinant glargine, Basalog, in 2009.

In the oncology segment, Biocon launched India’s first indigenously produced novel monoclonal antibody BIOMAB EGFR, to treat head and neck cancers.

In 2007, Biocon licensed to U.S.-based Abraxis BioScience Inc. (ABBI) the right to develop its generic version of G-CSF in the U.S. and the European Union. G-CSF, or granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, is a class of drugs used to help cancer patients maintain levels of infection-fighting white blood cells.

In the same year, the company signed a pact with another U.S.-based company, Invitrogen Corp. (IVGN), to market insulin to the global cell culture market.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Amylin Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company. Amylin has gained approval for two first-in-class medicines for diabetes, Symlin (pramlintide acetate) injection and Byetta (exenatide) injection. Amylin’s has expertise in metabolism to develop potential therapies to treat diabetes and obesity.