Sept 25 — Shares in Swedish drug-delivery company Nanexa more than doubled their value in early Friday trading after it signed a global licensing deal with Novo Nordisk worth up to about €1.17 billion ($1.33 billion).
The agreement, announced after the market closed on Thursday, covers long-acting injectable drugs for obesity, type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases.
• Novo will get exclusive rights to use Nanexa’s PharmaShell technology, which uses an ultra-thin coating on drug particles to control their release over time, in up to five development programmes
• The companies target formulations administered monthly or quarterly, reducing the frequency of injections for chronic treatments
• The deal includes an upfront payment and development and regulatory milestones totalling €615 million, with the rest coming from sales milestones
• Nanexa will receive a low single-digit percentage in royalties on global sales of products developed under the agreement
• Novo will lead the global development and commercialisation of products covered by the partnership
• Nanexa shares are up around 122% at 0723 GMT, trading at their highest levels in more than five years
($1 = 0.8787 euros)
(Reporting by Jesus Calero in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)