By Lisa Seachrist

Washington Editor

Just one year after acquiring Advanced Inhalation Research Inc., Alkermes Inc. has partnered the technology with London-based Glaxo Wellcome plc in the biggest deal yet for the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech company.

Alkermes has granted Glaxo Wellcome – a leader in the treatment of respiratory ailments such as asthma – a broad license to its AIR pulmonary drug delivery technology to develop multiple product candidates in several specific therapeutic categories in the field of respiratory disease. The companies aren’t disclosing the financial details of the deal, but they include development funding, milestone payments and royalties based on any sales.

“One of the key things about this deal is that Glaxo Wellcome is a leader in developing drugs for respiratory diseases with strong internal technical capabilities,” said Richard Pops, Alkermes’ CEO. “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Glaxo Wellcome in this field. They’ve got a great tradition of developing [respiratory] products.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Glaxo Wellcome will receive worldwide marketing rights to products resulting from the collaboration in up to four specified respiratory disease categories. Alkermes will develop the formulations of the products, while Glaxo will be responsible for all clinical development. Both companies will have manufacturing rights to any products developed.

“Maintaining marketing rights is very important to us,” Pops said. “It’s an important aspect of our overall economic return.”

While the companies aren’t releasing the specifics of the deal, Elise Wang, first vice president with PaineWebber Inc., of New York, estimated the deal could be worth more than $100 million in payments to Alkermes if all four programs are successful. In addition, she estimated the royalty and manufacturing payments would amount to about 10 percent of sales, in line with other deals completed by Alkermes.

“We view this as a landmark deal for Alkermes,” Wang told BioWorld Today. “It’s the first time a major pharmaceutical company in the respiratory field has gone outside their ranks for a pulmonary drug delivery technology.”

Wang suggested a number of drug classes may be included in the deal, such as leukotriene inhibitors, beta agonists, corticosteroids and cytokine inhibitors (interleukins), and she said she expected at least one of these programs to enter human clinical studies this year.

The basis for this deal is Alkermes’ AIR technology, which was acquired when Alkermes purchased Advanced Inhalation Research Inc. in February 1999. The technology utilizes large, low-density particles – Pops describes them as “light and fluffy” – and simple inhaler devices to deliver the drug deep into the lungs with high efficiency. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 2, 1999, p. 1.)

Alkermes is developing the AIR technology to deliver drugs, proteins and peptides locally to the lungs as well as systemically throughout the body. In addition to the AIR technology, Alkermes is developing sustained-release formulations of injectable drugs using ProLease and Medisorb technologies. The company also is developing oral delivery of drugs using RingCap and DST technologies and is developing Cereport as a technology to deliver drugs to the brain past the blood-brain barrier.

Alkermes’ stock (NASDAQ:ALKS) closed Thursday at $82.375, up $6.75 a share.