Zealand Pharma, a biotechnology company focused on advancing medicines for obesity and metabolic health, announced a strategic collaboration with OTR Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing therapies for patient populations with high unmet medical needs, on December 11th, 2025. The multi-program strategic collaboration and license agreement, worth up to approximately $2.5 billion, will see the companies work to discover and develop novel therapeutics for metabolic diseases.
According to a company press release, Zealand and OTR will co-discover and co-develop innovative therapies for multiple targets in metabolic diseases. OTR will lead and conduct research and preclinical development via its proprietary oral small molecule platform, whereas Zealand will assume responsibility for clinical development, regulatory submissions, and commercialization globally.
Per the terms of the agreement, OTR will be paid $20 million upfront, with an additional $10 contingent on certain pre-agreed conditions that were not disclosed in the press release announcing the deal. Additional compensation in the form of various preclinical, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered single-digit royalties, raises the total potential compensation to approximately $2.5 billion.
“We are excited to partner with OTR Therapeutics. The multi-program collaboration will expand our metabolic health pipeline into oral small-molecule therapeutics for targets where we have deep biological expertise, complementing our strong peptide R&D platform,” said Utpal Singh, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Zealand Pharma, in the release. “This partnership is an early testament – with more to follow – to the execution of our updated strategy to further strengthen and evolve our platform, broadening treatment options for people living with overweight, obesity, and other metabolic diseases.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Zealand Pharma, a company renowned for its legacy and expertise in metabolic diseases,” said Zhui Chen, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, OTR Therapeutics, in the release. “This collaboration represents a strong endorsement of our proprietary platform and strategic vision, and our proven ability to drive innovation and deliver quality and speed in execution. By combining our strengths in innovative drug discovery and development with Zealand Pharma’s deep expertise in the disease area, we are well positioned to discover potentially transformative therapies for patients worldwide.”
