Roche and Zealand plan to study petrelintide as a monotherapy and in combination with CT-388, a dual agonist of the GLP-1 and GIP receptors that Roche picked up in its 2024 acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics.
Roche is fronting $1.65 billion to partner with Zealand Pharma and gain access to the Danish biotech’s amylin analog petrelintide, which the companies will develop as a weight-loss monotherapy and in combination with Roche’s lead obesity treatment, acquired with the $2.7 billion purchase of Carmot Therapeutics in December 2023.
The new deal, announced Wednesday morning, will mean up to $1.2 billion in developmental milestone earnings for Zealand, the majority of which will come from the initiation of Phase III trials for petrelintide. Roche will also be on the hook for $2.4 billion in sales-based milestones, resulting in a total potential deal value of $5.3 billion.
For its investment, Roche will have the right to co-develop and co-commercialize petrelintide, an investigational amylin receptor agonist that helps lower blood sugar levels and slow down the emptying of the stomach, in turn helping suppress appetite.
If petrelintide reaches the market, Zealand and Roche will split profits and losses on a 50/50 basis in the U.S. and Europe. Everywhere else, Zealand will be entitled to tiered double-digit royalties paid by Roche up to high-teens-percentage of net sales.
The companies expect to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2025, pending regulatory and anti-trust approvals, as well as other customary conditions.
In June 2024, Zealand released Phase Ib data for petrelintide, touting mean weight-loss of 8.6% at 16 weeks, versus 1.7% in placebo counterparts. Encouraged by these data, Roche in its news release on Wednesday said that petrelintide has the “potential to become a best-in-class amylin monotherapy, with improved tolerability compared to current weight management treatments.”
Zealand announced last month that it was planning to initiate the Phase IIb ZUPREME-2 trial of petrelintide in the first half of this year, testing the amylin analog in people with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Under Wednesday’s contract, Roche and Zealand will also study petrelintide in combination with CT-388, Roche’s current lead obesity treatment. Designed to be delivered subcutaneously, CT-388 is a dual agonist of both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors, likewise working to lower blood sugar levels and appetite in patients.
Roche won ownership over CT-388 when it closed its acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in January 2024. The purchase has so far been paying off for Roche. In May 2024, Phase Ib data for CT-388 showed that the injection could cut body weight by 18.8% versus placebo after 24 weeks.
Combining CT-388 with petrelintide “offers the opportunity for best-in-disease efficacy while potentially offering enhanced tolerability,” Roche said on Wednesday.
