Eli Lilly and Company and Ceptyr, Inc., have announced a two-year research collaboration for the discovery of small molecules to treat diabetes, obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance.
The collaboration will focus on the phosphatase target, PTP1B, using Ceptyr’s proprietary assays and screening technology.
Ceptyr will receive an upfront signing fee, research funding, milestone payments and royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.
Lilly will be responsible for the development of identified drug candidates.
“We are looking forward to working with Ceptyr, whose phosphatase expertise is world-renowned,” said Jose Caro, M.D., vice president, endocrine research, for Lilly.
“This collaboration complements our phosphatase drug development platform and demonstrates our commitment to being a complete diabetes care company.”
“Ceptyr is very proud of our new partnership with a company of the stature of Lilly,” said James L. Rathmann, chairman of Ceptyr.
“We believe this collaboration demonstrates the power of the phosphatase platform for drug discovery, the sophistication of our proprietary technologies and the value of the top scientific talent that has been brought together in Ceptyr.”
Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growing portfolio of best-in-class pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations.
Ceptyr, Inc., a signal transduction biotechnology company, develops small molecule therapeutics that exploit the broad family of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPs) enzymes as targets for drug discovery.
Founded by Dr. Nicholas Tonks, the first to isolate PTP1B, Ceptyr has brought together the world leaders in the PTP field in its ongoing research and development programs in the areas of diabetes, obesity, cancer and immunosuppression.