Shares of Sagimet Biosciences (SGMT) climbed on Wednesday after the company reached a license agreement with a subsidiary of Teva (TEVA) to target the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of Madrigal Pharma’s (MDGL) liver drug resmetirom.
According to the company, TAPI Technology & API Services, a unit of the Israeli generic drugmaker, granted it a license that covers certain IP rights linked to several novel forms of resmetirom API.
Additionally, as part of the deal, Sagimet (SGMT) can choose to advance a fixed-dose combination therapy containing resmetirom and its lead asset, denifanstat.
Sagimet (SGMT) and TAPI have respectively filed patent applications to protect IP rights linked to the FDC and the innovative resmetirom forms.
The deal comes as San Mateo, California-headquartered Sagimet (SGMT) awaits a topline readout from an early-stage trial designed to test denifanstat with resmetirom this year.
In 2024, the FDA approved Madrigal’s (MDGL) thyroid hormone receptor beta (THR-β) agonist, branded as Rezdiffra, for a fatty liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).