Intarcia raises $225M in royalty deal

Intarcia Therapeutics Inc. (Boston, Mass.) raised $225 million from undisclosed investors who received a 1.5% royalty on future global sales of diabetes compound ITCA 650. Morgan Stanley served as the placement agent.

The product, which provides continuous subcutaneous delivery of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist exenatide via the implantable Duros osmotic mini-pump, is in Phase III testing. Intarcia said it plans to use the money to run head-to-head comparative and switch studies of ITCA 650 vs. existing oral and injectable therapies for Type II diabetes. ...