Zealand Pharma, OTR Therapeutics sign collaboration through a strategic collaboration and license agreement to discover and develop new therapies for metabolic diseases. The deal brings together Zealand Pharma’s expertise in obesity and metabolic health with OTR Therapeutics’ proprietary research platform and its drug discovery and development capabilities. The companies said the collaboration will focus on developing next-generation therapeutics intended to broaden treatment options for patients with metabolic disorders.
The collaboration is structured as a multi-program agreement. Under its terms, OTR Therapeutics will lead research and preclinical development activities using its proprietary discovery platform. Zealand Pharma will be responsible for clinical development, regulatory submissions, and global commercialization of any products that result from the collaboration. The companies stated that the collaboration will expand Zealand Pharma’s metabolic health pipeline into oral small-molecule therapeutics for targets where it has biological expertise, complementing its existing peptide research and development platform.
“We are excited to partner with OTR Therapeutics. The multi-program collaboration will expand our metabolic health pipeline into oral small-molecule therapeutics for targets where we have deep biological expertise, complementing our strong peptide R&D platform,” said Utpal Singh, Chief Scientific Officer of Zealand Pharma. “This partnership is an early testament—with more to follow—to the execution of our updated strategy to further strengthen and evolve our platform, broadening treatment options for people living with overweight, obesity, and other metabolic diseases.” Zhui Chen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OTR Therapeutics, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Zealand Pharma, a company renowned for its legacy and expertise in metabolic diseases. This collaboration represents a strong endorsement of our proprietary platform and strategic vision, and our proven ability to drive innovation and deliver quality and speed in execution.”
Under the financial terms of the agreement, OTR Therapeutics will receive an upfront payment of $20 million, which could increase to $30 million under certain conditions. The deal also includes potential milestone payments linked to preclinical, development, regulatory, and commercial achievements, with total consideration reaching up to approximately $2.5 billion, most of which is tied to commercial milestones. In addition, OTR Therapeutics will be eligible to receive tiered single-digit royalties on worldwide net sales of any products resulting from the collaboration. As Zealand Pharma, OTR Therapeutics sign a collaboration, both companies will advance multiple programs under the agreed development and commercialization framework.
