Camurus and Lilly have entered a collaboration and license agreement, granting Lilly exclusive, worldwide rights to the research, development, manufacture, and commercialization of long-acting incretin products for cardiometabolic products based on Camurus’ FluidCrystal technology.

The agreement includes up to four Lilly drug compounds selected from dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonists, triple GIP, glucagon and GLP-1 receptor agonists, and an option to include amylin receptor agonists.

Camurus is eligible to receive up to $290 million in upfront, development, and regulatory milestone payments as well as $580 million in sales-based milestone payments and tiered mid-single digit royalties on global product sales.

“We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with Lilly to bring innovative long-acting treatment options to people living with obesity, diabetes, and other serious chronic diseases”, said Fredrik Tiberg, President & CEO, CSO of Camurus. “Through the collaboration with Lilly, a global leader in the metabolic disease area, we leverage our FluidCrystal technology in rapidly expanding indication areas impacting hundreds of millions of people, while maintaining our own commercial focus on CNS and rare diseases.”

Camurus’ FluidCrystal technology

Camurus’ FluidCrystal technology is designed to deliver therapeutic levels of drug substance over extended periods – from days to months – with a single injection using a prefilled syringe or autoinjector pen. Upon contact with bodily fluids in the tissue, the lipid solution transforms into a liquid crystalline gel that encapsulates the active ingredient. As the liquid crystalline matrix gradually degrades in the tissue, the drug is slowly released.