Amunix Announces Option Exercise by Eli Lilly and Company for XTEN® Product for People with Diabetes
Mountain View, CA – December 17, 2014 – Amunix Operating Inc. (Amunix), a leader in the field of protein half-life extension, today announced that its partner Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) has exercised its option to an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize an XTEN product. Amunix and Lilly entered into a multiproduct research collaboration in 2010 to develop new therapeutics targeting diabetes.
Under the definitive agreement announced today, Amunix will receive an exercised option fee and be eligible to receive additional undisclosed regulatory milestone payments, plus royalties on worldwide commercial sales of the Lilly XTEN product in development. Further financial terms were not disclosed.
“This is an important milestone for the very productive collaboration that combined Lilly’s deep expertise in the diabetes field with Amunix’s capabilities of engineering long-acting pharmaceuticals,” said Volker Schellenberger, PhD, Amunix President and CEO. “Over the last year, we entered into a significant number of new partnerships and this latest milestone in our relationship with Lilly reinforces Amunix’s leadership position in the field of half-life extension.”
XTEN is a proprietary recombinant polypeptide that extends the in vivo half-life of therapeutics payloads. XTEN consists of naturally occurring hydrophilic amino acids and is biodegradable. Pharmaceuticals such as proteins, peptides and synthetic compounds can be XTENylated via chemical conjugation or genetic fusion. The XTEN platform technology is unique among the options that offer half-life extension technologies for developing new therapeutics with tailored and enhanced pharmaceutical properties.
About Amunix
Amunix Operating Inc., based in Mountain View, CA, is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics with improved in vivo half-lives. Amunix’s half-life extension technology is based on XTEN – hydrophilic, unstructured, biodegradable polypeptides that impart a number of favorable properties upon the molecules to which they are attached. XTEN can be recombinantly fused or chemically conjugated to peptides, proteins, and other pharmaceuticals. In addition to the advantages of reduced dosing frequency, XTENylation also stabilizes plasma drug concentrations, which often results in increased efficacy as well as reduced side effects. Two genetically fused XTENylated products, VRS-859 (Exenatide-XTEN) and VRS-317 (Human Growth Hormone-XTEN) have completed Phase 1 studies. VRS-317, through Amunix partner Versartis, recently completed a Phase 2a clinical trial in children with growth hormone deficiency. Amunix is also working with other partners including Biogen-Idec, Janssen, Baxter, Ambrx, Zealand, Noxxon and other undisclosed companies in various other therapeutic areas. Amunix is actively seeking partnerships for application of its XTEN technology. For additional information about the company, please visit www.amunix.com.
Amunix Media Contact
Debra Catz Bannister
media@amunix.com
530 676-7373