Following the leaders

Being late to the DPP-4 and SGLT2 inhibitor party doesn't seem to bother Eli Lilly and Co., as the pharma added a pair of these oral candidates to its injectable diabetes portfolio in a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. The partnership, which combines both companies' late-stage diabetes programs into a single pipeline, could be a template for other biopharmas under the right circumstances.

Under this month's deal, Eli Lilly and Boehringer will co-develop and co-commercialize four late-stage diabetes programs, including two oral molecules from Boehringer: linagliptin and BI-10773; and two basal insulin analogs from Lilly: LY2605541 and LY2963016. Linagliptin is a xanthine-based dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor that is under regulatory review in the U.S., Europe and Japan. BI-10773, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), and Lilly's two insulin analogs are slated to start Phase III testing this year...