Biotechnology company Zealand Pharma A/S (CPH:ZEAL) on Thursday reported royalty revenues from Sanofi's sales of Lyxumia/Adlyxin (lixisenatide) of DKK5.0m and from Suliqua/Soliqua 100/33 of DKK5.4m for the third quarter of 2017.

This royalty revenue is based on total net sales of Lyxumia/Adlyxin and Suliqua/Soliqua 100/33 of DKK103.3m in Q3 2017. Also, Soliqua 100/33 sales represent a 37% growth over Q3 2016.

Total royalty revenues for the first nine months of 2017 amounted to DKK27.5m.

Lixisenatide is a Zealand-invented once-daily prandial GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Zealand licensed the global development and commercialisation rights to lixisenatide to Sanofi. Lixisenatide is marketed under the brand name Lyxumia in more than 45 countries and was launched in the US under the brand name Adlyxin® in January 2017.

Sanofi has also developed a combination of lixisenatide and insulin glargine 100 units/ml (Lantus), which was launched under the brand name Soliqua100/33 in the US in January 2017 and has been approved as Suliqua in Europe and launched in the Netherlands and Austria during 2017.

In addition, Soliqua 100/33 is approved in the US as an adjunct therapy to diet and exercise to improve glycaemia control in adults with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on basal insulin (less than 60 units daily) or lixisenatide alone.

Zealand has a portfolio of medicines and product candidates under license collaborations with Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim, as well as a pipeline of internal product candidates focusing on specialty gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases.