Lilly, Alkermes team up for pulmonary hGH

Eli Lilly has signed an agreement with Alkermes in which it will use thelatter's AIR pulmonary drug delivery technology to develop an inhaled formulation of human growth hormone. Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Alkermes stock rose 17.5% on the day of the announcement. Lilly will have worldwide rights to any products arising from the alliance under the terms of a royalty-bearing license.

Clinical trials of the first product candidate from the collaboration are due to start later this year, and follow a nine-month feasibility program which showed that Alkermes' approach, which makes use of a simple inhaler device, could be an alternative to daily injections. Taking hGH via the pulmonary route is expected to increase patient compliance and revitalize the market for hGH, which is already seeing a move away from once-daily injections through the forthcoming introduction of new injectable formulations, including Genentech's Nutropin Depot (somatropin), another product of Alkermes drug delivery technology, which requires injections only once or twice a month (Marketletter January 3 & 10).