Year: 2009-10

Company: Amylin Pharmaceuticals

Liaison(s): Ted Slocomb

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a San Diego based fully integrated pharmaceutical company, was founded with the goal of developing peptide hormone therapies for diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic conditions. Since its inception in 1987, and IPO in 1992, the company has brought two first-in-class diabetes drugs to market. Additionally, the company has several products in various stages of clinical development for both diabetes and obesity. Though Amylin is well regarded in the industry, and has attained a market cap of nearly $2.5 billion, the company has not yet achieved profitability. To continue to grow and establish the company within the upper ranks of the biotech sector while increasing their current cash flow, Amylin has identified a need to pursue additional growth opportunities. With this in mind, the Amylin TMP worked to evaluate opportunities for Amylin to pursue in the orphan drug market. This was for several strategic reasons. Orphan products present a lower risk to the company, and offer the quickest potential route to commercialization. If pursued, Amylin would like to see profits within five years. As many orphan diseases are lacking in treatment options, Amylin hopes that a new product will result in rapid sales to achieve this goal. The company has identified in-licensing as the desired route to commercialization within this time frame. Project deliverables included recommendations for how Amylin should proceed with this venture and the likelihood of success. By identifying success factors of companies that have pursued similar goals, this TMP worked to outline the best method of a successful licensure. Additionally, an overhead analysis of Amylin’s current capabilities helped the team properly assess areas of concern as the company moves forward. Overall the team made recommendations on whether partnering or purchasing is a better option and identified desirable compounds fitting these criteria.