ViiV Healthcare has signed a global collaboration and license agreement with Halozyme Therapeutics to develop “ultra-long-acting” medicines for HIV.
The deal gives exclusive access to Halozyme’s ENHANZE drug delivery technology, recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20 enzyme (rHuPH20), which has the capability to reduce long-hours of treatments to minutes.
Halozyme’s drug delivery technology helps ViiV to develop large volume subcutaneous injections that may enable dosing at intervals of every three months and up to six months or longer for ViiV’s pipeline of HIV medicines.
As per the terms of the deal, Halozyme will receive an upfront payment of $40m from ViiV to secure the exclusive license to use Halozyme’s rHuPH20 technology for four specific HIV small and large molecule targets.
ViiV is also obligated to make up to $175m of potential future payments in development and commercial milestones per target.
These payments are subject to achievement of specified development and commercial milestones and certain specified sales milestones.
Additionally, Halozyme will be eligible to receive royalties based on the sales of commercialised medicines made using the company’s technology.
ViiV Healthcare Research and Development head Kimberly Smith said: “Many people living with HIV and those vulnerable to HIV tell us that for a variety of reasons, taking medicine every day is a challenge, and we have listened to them.
“We believe long-acting medicines are the future of HIV therapies and will help address these unmet needs.
“Our collaboration with Halozyme will keep us at the forefront of developing additional, innovative new options for HIV treatment and prevention as we work towards reducing the burden of HIV treatment.”
The company is planning to start the first experiment with Halozyme’s drug delivery technology by the end of this year for investigational, long acting cabotegravir, which is now injected every two months.