Zealand Pharma A/S announced that under its license agreement with Sanofi covering Lyxumia(r) (lixisenatide) and any combination product including lixisenatide, a milestone has been achieved in the advance of LixiLan, the once-daily single injection Lantus(r) (basal insulin) /Lyxumia(r) (lixisenatide) combination product, towards start of Phase III development in the 1(st) quarter of 2014. This relates to the approval of the first phase III study protocol for LixiLan by a Health Authority, triggering a USD 15 million payment to Zealand. Lixisenatide is a once-daily prandial GLP-1 receptor agonist invented by Zealand for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

Worldwide development and commercial rights to the product are exclusively licensed to Sanofi. Under the license agreement with Sanofi, covering lixisenatide (Lyxumia(r)) and any combination products including lixisenatide, the company is eligible to up to USD 160 million in remaining milestones. Further, the company will receive tiered low double-digit percentage royalties on Sanofi's global sales of Lyxumia(r) and fixed low double-digit percentage royalties on global full net sales of the Lyxumia(r) /Lantus(r) combination product.