HQ Team
June 4, 2025: Eli Lilly and Company and Sweden’s Camurus AB have signed a $870 million pact to develop incretin products for diabetes and other chronic diseases.
The license agreement grants Lilly exclusive, worldwide rights to the research, development, manufacture, and commercialisation of long-acting incretin products for cardiometabolic health based on Camurus’ FluidCrystal technology.
Camurus will get up to $290 million upfront, as development and regulatory milestone payments. It will also receive $580 million in sales-based milestone payments and tiered mid-single-digit royalties on global net product sales.
The collaboration will “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.
‘Metabolic disease area’
“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 commercial focus on central nervous system and rare diseases,” he said.
Camurus’ proprietary 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 quickly and effectively encapsulates the active ingredient.
As the liquid crystalline matrix gradually degrades in the tissue, the drug is slowly released.
Enhance insulin release
The technology is commercially and regulatory validated by market approvals and product sales in Europe, the US, and Australia.
Incretins are a group of metabolic hormones produced by the gut that play a crucial role in regulating blood glucose levels.
They are released after eating and stimulate the secretion of insulin from the pancreatic beta cells in a blood-glucose–dependent manner, or they enhance insulin release only when blood glucose is elevated. This effect helps lower blood glucose levels following a meal.
The two main incretins are the Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) S, which are secreted by L cells in the mucosa of the lower small and large intestines, and the Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) secreted by K cells in the mucosa of the upper small intestine (duodenum and jejunum).
Lilly’s drug compounds
The agreement between Lilly and Camurus comprises up to four Lilly proprietary 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.
Drugs in the incretin mimetic class include exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon), liraglutide (Victoza), sitagliptin (Januvia, Janumet, Janumet XR, Juvisync), saxagliptin (Onglyza, Kombiglyze XR), alogliptin (Nesina, Kazano, Oseni), and linagliptin (Tradjenta, Jentadueto).
These drugs work by mimicking the incretin hormones that the body usually produces naturally to stimulate the release of insulin in response to a meal.
They are used along with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
