AstraZeneca and Eccogene entered into an exclusive license agreement for ECC5004, an investigational oral once-daily glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) for the treatment of obesity, type-2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic conditions.
 
Preliminary Phase I trials have shown a differentiating clinical profile for ECC5004, with good tolerability and encouraging glucose and body weight reduction across the dose levels tested compared to placebo.
 
Eccogene will receive $185 million upfront and as much as an additional $1.8 billion in future clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones and royalties on product net sales. 
 
Under the agreement AstraZeneca is granted exclusive global rights for the development and commercialization of Eccogene’s ECC5004 small molecule GLP-1RA for any indication in all territories except China, where Eccogene retains rights alongside AstraZeneca.
 
Sharon Barr, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, said: “Building on the promising Phase I clinical data generated by Eccogene, we believe this oral GLP-1RA molecule could offer alternatives to current injectable therapies both as a potential monotherapy as well as in combination for cardiometabolic diseases such as type-2 diabetes, as well as for obesity. ECC5004 further strengthens our existing pipeline addressing both incretin and non-incretin pathways, including our GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist [AZD9550] and long-acting amylin analogue [AZD6234].”
 
Jingye Zhou, Chief Executive Officer of Eccogene, said: “GLP-1RA represents a very important class of drugs for multiple cardiometabolic diseases; currently there is no approved orally available small molecule GLP-1RA. Small molecule GLP-1RA, such as ECC5004, could potentially offer more dosing convenience and ease of use compared to existing GLP-1RA therapies. AstraZeneca has impressive global capabilities in clinical development and commercialisation. This important collaboration between Eccogene and AstraZeneca will accelerate the development of ECC5004, a once daily, low dose, orally available small molecule GLP-1RA to benefit the millions of patients worldwide living with these diseases.”