Eli Lilly & Co., Acquires Rights to New Possible Type 2 Diabetes Drug

They will pay $385 million for rights for an experimental oral diabetes medication from OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Melville. Under the agreement, OSI will receive an upfront fee of $25 million for the compound — known as PSN010 — and as much as $360 million if development and marketing goals are met.

The compound is now in early clinical trials. Eli Lilly, is trying to boost its line of drugs targeting one of the world’s most rapidly growing diseases.

OSI said PSN010 represents a new class of diabetes medications aimed at controlling blood sugar in patients with type-2 diabetes by stimulating glucokinase. Glucokinase is a protein that spurs the pancreas to produce more insulin and helps the liver to control glucose.

PSN010 is being developed as an oral medication.

Diabetes affects more than 250 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 350 million by 2025, according to the International Diabetes Federation. In 2003, the federation said, the U.S. was one of five countries with the largest number of people with diabetes. The others were India, China, Russia an Japan, the federation said.

The federation said that each year, more than 3 million deaths are attributed directly to diabetes, making it the fourth-largest leading cause of death by disease globally.

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