Seeking Alpha analyzes the diabetes portfolio that is formed by the recent Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim deal. For €300m ($390m), Lilly gains access to two Boehringer products – a DPP-IV inhibitor and a SGLT-2 inhibitor – while putting more development and commercial muscle behind its own long-acting insulin products in development. Unfortunately, none of the products are first in class. There may be some potential for a few of the products to be best in class.
The deal's appeal, according to its participants, is the wide range of therapeutic classes being addressed by the combined portfolio. The deal includes Boehringer’s SGLT-2 inhibitor BI10773, now in phase III trials; two mid-stage Lilly insulin analogue products, LY2605541 and glargine competitor LY2963016; and a co-development option for Lilly’s anti-TGF-beta 1 monoclonal antibody planned for diabetes patients with chronic kidney disease. Lilly's rationale is that payers are more attracted to companies offering products which cover the entire progression of the disease.
Lilly does have a need to fill its late-stage pipeline; picking up a filed product and a phase III product appear to be good bets for a company with as steep and deep a patent cliff as the one it faces.
For more on this deal, see WSJ Health blog and the WSJ online Health.
Posted by Bruce Lehr Jan 13th 2011.
Comments