It’s a drug meant for the injection-weary diabetic set: Dance Biopharm‘s developing an inhalable form of insulin, and a series accompanying electric devices to dispense the aerial hormone. It’s slated to go up against MannKind‘s Afrezza.
The Bay Area company’s now in the midst of a $15 million debt fundraise, having brought in about $5 million thus far in this round. This is its first ask for cash since Dance Biopharm scrapped plans for a $75 million IPO in October, citing unfavorable market conditions.
Dance Biopharm launched in 2010. Its lead candidate is liquid insulin in mist form, meant to to be inhaled – thus reducing a diabetic’s need for insulin shots.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
This isn’t the first time a company’s attempted an airborne diabetes med – yet there’s currently a hole in the market for such a product. Here’s why:
A product called Exubera briefly hit the market around 2007 but was pulled by Pfizer barely a year after its debut. Nature Biotechnology took a deep dive into the whys of why Exubera did poorly, despite being technically impressive and pinpointed for success. Perhaps the failure lies on Pfizer’s shoulders and not that the market was reticent to buy: That question will inform how well inhalable insulin dispensation will perform in the future. In any case, the article’s worth a read.
Dance Biopharma’s main competitor in this inhalable insulin market is MannKind Corporation – the maker of a drug called Afrezza that got regulatory approval but isn’t yet sold. MannKind has a partnership in place with Sanofi to market the inhalable diabetes drug; it’s a wait-and-watch situation to see how they plan to commercialize the drug.
One difference between Afrezza and Dance Biopharma’s products? The former’s an inhalable powder, the latter, a mist. In the meantime, a dated regulatory filing (goes back to May) says Dance Biopharm plans to start Phase 3 trials of its inhalable insulin product in early 2015… soon.
