Thermalin, Inc. has entered a worldwide collaboration with Sanofi to discover and develop novel, engineered insulin analogues. The collaboration leverages Thermalin’s science, which alters the insulin molecule to achieve greater therapeutic performance.

The collaboration could generate as much as $788 million in equity investments, milestone payments, and R&D services for Thermalin, of which $9 million was paid upfront. Sanofi will assume the clinical development costs of these insulin programs and pay royalties on commercial sales of products.

The collaboration with Sanofi encompasses two Thermalin programs and is an outgrowth of Sanofi’s Sunrise initiative, a strategic-partnership model that seeks to invest in early-stage opportunities that align with Sanofi’s R&D and commercialization efforts. The funding and commitment of resources from Sanofi will accelerate and expand Thermalin’s discovery capabilities and will support shared efforts to bring new therapies to diabetes patients.

Michael Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., scientific founder of Thermalin, said, “This alliance will allow us to move our advances in insulin analogue design from the bench to the bedside. We are just beginning to learn how targeted modifications of the insulin molecule can fine-tune both its own properties and the downstream signaling functions of the insulin receptor.”

“We believe that Thermalin’s expertise and capabilities will significantly augment our own deep experience in insulin and enable Sanofi to remain a leader in bringing innovative and beneficial insulin therapies to patients,” said Philip Larsen, global head of Diabetes Research and Translational Medicine at Sanofi.