Eli Lilly is already a leader in diabetes products, and it is working with obtain of Prototype technology, A company developing next-generation diabetes drugs, can sense blood sugar levels and adjust accordingly.
The two companies are already familiar.Last November, Lilly led Equity investment Work with the JDRF T1D fund at Protomer. The cash amount was not disclosed, but in the acquisition announcement on Wednesday, the two companies stated that the initial investment gave Eli Lilly a 14% stake in Protomer. According to Pitchbook, The investment in November was $6.6 million in seed financing. The pharmaceutical giant is now acquiring the rest of Protomer that it does not already own.
The specific financial details of the latest transaction were not disclosed, only that if the Protomer technology achieves development and commercial milestones, its value may exceed $1 billion. These milestones still have a long way to go. Protomer is still in the preclinical stage, but Eli Lilly has the resources and cash to obtain the lead project of the start-up company through clinical development, and if the biotech drug is approved, it will be commercialized.
Protomer, headquartered in Pasadena, California, was founded in 2015. The start-up company is developing “smart therapy”, that is, injectable drugs that can sense molecular activators in the body and activate them automatically as needed. Protomer describes its platform technology as being based on chemical biology. It has developed therapeutic peptides and proteins with adjustable activity and controlled by small molecules. The company’s main disease target is diabetes.
Current insulin therapy may require multiple injections throughout the day, or inject insulin from a pump.in a video CEO Alborz Mahdavi said on Protomer’s website at the Biotech Showcase 2020 event that his company’s insulin is administered once a day to automatically detect the increase in blood sugar levels and dynamically activate the response.
In the January 2020 video, Mahdavi stated that Protomer is in the stage of optimizing its lead drug candidate, leading to preclinical development. He added that the company will seek to raise funds in the next 12 to 18 months to continue to develop major assets. The timetable is consistent with Eli Lilly’s acquisition on Wednesday. Now, instead of raising funds for this research, the financial burden will be borne by the pharmaceutical giants.
“Glucose-sensing insulin is the next frontier area, and it is possible to radically change the treatment and quality of life of diabetic patients by significantly improving the efficacy and safety of insulin therapy,” said Ruth Gimeno, vice president of diabetes research and clinical investigation, Eli Lilly in a report. Said in the statement.
Protomer’s pipeline includes another diabetes product candidate, a smart glucagon. Glucagon injection is a rescue treatment used when blood sugar levels drop to dangerously low levels. Mahdavi said that Protomer’s smart glucagon will eliminate the need to carry a rescue glucagon kit with you.
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