Zealand Announces Dosing Initiation in Type 2 Diabetes Study
Zealand Pharma A/S ZEAL announced that the first patient has been dosed in a phase II study evaluating its long-acting GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist candidate, BI 456906, in type 2 diabetes patients. The company will receive a milestone payment of EUR 20 million from Boehringer Ingelheim as part of a licensing agreement between the two companies related to the candidate.
The phase II study will evaluate subcutaneous administration of BI 456906 in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes and compare it to a placebo and semaglutide, a type 2 diabetes medication. The primary endpoint of the study is dose-related improvement in HbA1c, a measure of average level of blood sugar, from baseline to 16 weeks relative to placebo.
Please note that Zealand had signed a licensing agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim in 2011 for development and commercialization of novel glucagon/GLP-1 dual-acting peptide therapeutics to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes and/or obesity. The companies later extended their agreement in 2014 to include a novel therapeutic peptide project from Zealand’s portfolio of preclinical programs for treatment of patients with cardio-metabolic diseases.
As part of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim is funding all research, development and commercialization activities for BI 456906. Zealand is eligible to receive up to EUR 345 million in outstanding milestone payments.
Boehringer Ingelheim believes that the candidate holds potential to be developed as a treatment for obesity, NASH and type 2 diabetes.
Zealand’s shares have risen 13.2% so far this year compared with the industry’s increase of 8.8%.
Apart from Boehringer Ingelheim, Zealand also has another collaboration with Alexion ALXN for development of a complement C3 inhibitor. However, a target indication is yet to be disclosed.
The company is also developing its lead pipeline candidate, dasiglucagon, across several indications including severe hypoglycemia and diabetes management. It has initiated the second phase III study to evaluate its pipeline candidate, dasiglucagon, in pediatric patients with congenital hyperinsulinism (“CHI”) in December 2019. The first phase III study is evaluating dasiglucagon versus current standard treatments for reducing the number of hypoglycemic events in CHI patients aged 3 months to 12 years. Results from this study are expected in 2020.
Zealand Pharma AS Price
Zealand Pharma AS price | Zealand Pharma AS Quote
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Zealand currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A couple of better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are Geron Corporation GERN and Applied Genetics Technologies Corp. AGTC. Both stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Geron’s loss per share estimates have narrowed from 48 cents to 28 cents for 2020 and from 38 cents to 29 cents for 2021 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, with the average beat being 11.41%.
Applied Genetics’ loss per share estimates have narrowed from $2.32 to $2.04 for 2020 and from $2.01 to $1.59 for 2021 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in two of the trailing four quarters, with the average beat being 1.34%.
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