Zealand Pharma has entered a collaboration with Generate Biomedicines to develop protein therapeutics for obesity and other metabolic diseases, with Generate eligible for nearly $1.2 billion in milestone payments across two initial programs.
Generate will receive $30 million upfront and up to $35 million in early preclinical milestone payments. The agreement also provides for development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties on future worldwide net sales. The companies have an option to add a third program.
Under the agreement, Generate will lead research through selection of lead candidates using its generative artificial intelligence platform. Zealand will take responsibility for subsequent clinical development, regulatory submissions and worldwide commercialization.
The companies intend to design multispecific protein therapeutics with tailored biological functions. Generate’s platform combines computational protein design with high-throughput laboratory testing, using experimental results to refine candidate designs.
The partnership expands Zealand’s drug development capabilities beyond peptides and small molecules to include protein therapeutics. It also extends Generate’s platform into obesity and other metabolic diseases.
Zealand Chief Scientific Officer Utpal Singh said the collaboration would combine the company’s metabolic expertise in Copenhagen with its capabilities across different treatment types in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Generate Chief Executive Mike Nally said the teams would first establish desired medicine profiles for the two initial programs before designing candidates against those specifications.
Founded in 1998, Copenhagen-based Zealand has advanced more than 10 internally invented candidates into clinical development. Two products have reached the market and three candidates are in late-stage development. Generate was founded in 2018.
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