Merrion Pharmaceuticals plc, a pharmaceutical development company, recently announced that its partner Novo Nordisk, initiated in March 2010, its first Phase I clinical trial with an oral GLP1 analogue (NN9925). Merrion Pharmaceuticals plc, GIPET technology is used in the formulation of NN9925.

“Novo Nordisk initiated a Phase I trial for an orally administered GLP-1 analogue formulated using Merrion Pharmaceuticals’ GIPET technology,” said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, Executive Vice President and CSO, Novo Nordisk. “In brief, the Novo Nordisk R&D strategy seeks to maximize the likelihood of success for its oral diabetes protein portfolio by adopting an approach of clinically investigating several different tailor-made degredation persistent analogues of insulin and GLP-1 formulated through the use of various state-of-the-art oral protein delivery technologies.”

“This is another significant step forward for Merrion and our GIPET technology,” added John Lynch, CEO, Merrion Pharmaceuticals plc. “Oral GLP-1 analogues are one of a number of products GIPET could bring to market. Merrion continues to make progress in building a substantial business.”

In January 2009, Merrion entered into a development and license agreement to develop and commercialize oral formulations of Novo Nordisk's proprietary GLP-1 analogues, using Merrion's proprietary GIPET technology. Commencing clinical trials is a significant milestone in the development of an oral GLP-1. In December 2009, Merrion announced that an oral insulin compound had entered clinical trials under a separate agreement with Novo Nordisk.