Novo Nordisk has announced the results from Phase IIIa trial PIONEER 5, which investigated its oral semaglutide in adults with Type 2 diabetes and moderate renal impairment.
Oral semaglutides are investigational glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues that are taken once daily as a tablet. Novo Nordisk’s oral semaglutide utilises Emisphere Technologies’ proprietary Eligen® Technology, and is subject to an exclusive license agreement that provides for payments by Novo Nordisk to Emisphere upon the achievement of specified development and sales milestones, in addition to royalty payments.
Senior vice-president of global drug discovery at Novo Nordisk Marcus Schindler said: “Novo Nordisk values our continued collaboration with Emisphere and looks forward to working with the Eligen® technology under our current agreements”.
On 12 July, MHR Fund Management and some of its affiliated funds converted $963,781 of certain of its secured convertible notes, having a conversion price of $0.50 per share into 1,927,562 shares of Emisphere’s common stock. Excluding the amounts converted on 12 July, $67m of Emisphere’s secured convertible notes were outstanding as of 30 June.
On July 13, Emisphere repaid $1m of its outstanding debt under a secured loan agreement dated 20 August 2014, between MHR and Emisphere, which repayment was required pursuant to the terms. Excluding the amounts repaid on 13 July, 2018, $30m was outstanding under this loan facility as of 30 June 2018.