Novo Nordisk and United Laboratories International’s subsidiary, United Biotechnology Co. have entered into a potentially $2 billion license agreement for UBT251, a glucagon triple-receptor agonist in early stage clinical development for obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other diseases.
Novo Nordisk will acquire the rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize UBT251 outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan where United Biotechnology will retain the rights, according to a March 24 news release from Novo Nordisk.
The agreement includes an upfront payment of $200 million and potential milestone payments of up to $1.8 billion along with tiered royalties on sales outside of the retained territories.
A phase 1B trial in China evaluated UBT251’s safety, tolerability and effectiveness on weight loss where participants in the highest dose group saw an average weight reduction of 15.1% over 12 weeks while the placebo group experienced a 1.5% increase.
