Novo Nordisk divests three metabolic-disorder treatment programmes to TransTech Pharma

Denmark's Novo Nordisk A/S has divested a portfolio of drug candidates being developed to treat metabolic disorders to privately held US-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical company TransTech Pharma for an undisclosed sum.

This portfolio comprises of three distinct therapeutic approaches to such treatment: H3 receptor antagonists, PPARd agonists and 11ßHSD1 inhibitors.

In January 2007 Novo Nordisk, global leader in diabetic care, took a strategic decision to focus all its research and development resources on its growing pipeline of protein-based pharmaceuticals, and divested all existing preclinical and clinical small-molecule projects to TransTech to develop these three programmes.

The Dutch firm has earlier worked closely with TransTech on novel drug development.

"We are very pleased to place our programmes in such good hands. We have previously partnered with TransTech, and know that TransTech has the capability to effectively and expeditiously proceed with the further development of these programmes," said Novo Nordisk executive vice president and chief scientific officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. "This allows us to focus our R&D efforts on therapeutic proteins while keeping a financial stake in the programmes as a TransTech shareholder."

TransTech's current diabetes and obesity portfolio includes orally administered and novel therapeutic development candidates targeting PTP1b inhibitors, AgRP inhibitors, GLP1R agonists, AMPK activators and glucokinase activators. Now, with the addition of the three Novo Nordisk programmes, TransTech is engaged in 11 clinical and preclinical programmes in this area.