Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL) today announced the signing of a collaborative research, license and commercialisation agreement with Elanco, the animal health division of US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company.
The parties will collaborate to develop new animal health products with enhanced properties using Starpharma's dendrimer technology. Under the agreement, Starpharma will receive revenue from research fees, and is eligible for milestone payments and royalties on sale of any product developed. Elanco will receive exclusivity within the animal health field. Terms were not disclosed.
"We are very pleased to have secured such a strong animal health partner as Elanco for our delivery technology," said Dr Jackie Fairley, CEO, Starpharma.
"Their expertise, resources and market presence will be enormously valuable assets as we work to bring these innovative products to market," Fairley said. "An exciting aspect of this application for our business is that product development in the animal health sector can be faster than is usually associated with the development of human drugs."
The collaboration with Elanco is further demonstration of Starpharma's strong and successful partnership model and the multiple potential applications of its dendrimer technology. Starpharma also has partnerships with SSL International (Durex(R)), Siemens (Dade Behring), EMD Merck, Stiefel, Unilever, Qiagen and Sigma Aldrich.
Starpharma retains all rights to exploit the technology outside of Elanco's specific field of interest, including for all uses in humans, and continues to work to add to its portfolio of partners for drug delivery and dendrimer technology more widely.
In 2008, the global animal health market was reported to be about US$19 billion. Global sales are expected to reach US$21.7B by 2010, at which time the top three markets are forecast to be USA, China and Brazil, with the USA accounting for 40 percent of growth [1].
[1]Vetnosis for global animal health market estimate; all other information in "World Animal Health Markets" from Informa Healthcare, January 2008.