August 7, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
PARIS – Sanofi SA inked a deal that could be worth up to $327 million with German-based Evotec AG to develop next generation treatments for diabetes.
The goal will be to develop a beta cell replacement therapy derived from human stem cells, Evotec said in a statement Friday morning. Beta cells play a key role in the development of diabetes and are destroyed by the patient’s own immune system in type 1 diabetes. As a result, patients have to follow a life-long regimen of carefully dosed insulin injections. In type 2 diabetes, beta cells are functionally impaired. Current therapeutic options cannot prevent the deterioration of beta cell function, eventually creating a need for insulin injections The drugs could reduce the need for diabetes patients to inject themselves with insulin, said Sanofi, a leading diabetes drug manufacturer.
There is a significant medical need for new treatments that restore beta cell mass, reduce or eliminate the need for insulin injections and prevent or reverse the decline in beta cell function in type 2 diabetes patients, Sanofi said.
“Combining Sanofi‘s and Evotec‘s beta cell and stem cell expertise in drug discovery and development will enable optimal exploitation of the potential of stem cell derived human beta cells for therapy and drug screening in diabetes,” Philip Larsen, head of Sanofi’s diabetes research said in a statement.
Insulin injections represent a significant burden to patients, both companies said. The injections cannot fully mimic the normal control of blood glucose levels by normal beta cells, frequently resulting in debilitating acute and long-term complications, which is a driving force behind the collaboration.
The collaboration will further enhance and complement Sanofi‘s extensive diabetes portfolio and will extend Evotec‘s metabolic disease and stem cell-based drug discovery programs.
Despite the agreement between the two companies, was slightly down this morning, trading at $53.91 per share. Evotec’s stock was up slightly, trading at $3.66 per share.
Last week Sanofi announced solid growth for the second quarter, with increased sales of 4.9 percent, although sales for diabetes drugs dropped 3.8 percent. Sanofi’s diabetes drug Lantis generated approximately $7.1 billion in sales last year, a 3 percent increase over sales in 2013.
