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Sanofi abandons $375m oral diabetes deal

pharmafile | May 9, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing Metabolex, Sanofi, diabetes 

Sanofi has terminated its $375 million deal with US biotech Metabolex to develop a novel oral anti-diabetic treatment.

The French pharma company gained an exclusive worldwide licence to Metabolex’s lead candidate MBX-2982, but gave no specific reason for why it had pulled out of the deal other than to say it had “decided to exercise its right to terminate the license agreement”.

A Metabolex spokesman told the San Francisco Business Times the decision was made after Sanofi reviewed the most recent trial data from a mid-stage study.

The spokesman added that the trial did not result in poor data for safety or efficacy of the drug, and the company would now decide whether to seek another partner for MBX-2982.

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Diabetes is a key area for Sanofi, and the company’s chief executive Chris Viehbacher last year stated his aim of overtaking the market share of diabetes specialist Novo Nordisk.

The mainstay of Sanofi’s diabetes portfolio is its blockbuster insulin product Lantus, but the company has an increasingly healthy pipeline in the area.

Injectible treatment lixisenatide is shaping up to rival Novo’s Victoza after promising data was released in September and the company last year signed a deal to develop a new treatment which could restore patients’ ability to produce insulin and bought a number of patents for drug delivery technology in diabetes. 

Ben Adams

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