The partnership will focus on the development and distribution of a specific version of Biocorp’s Mallya device as an accessory for one of Merck’s drug delivery devices

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Merck campus from bird's eye perspective in Darmstadt, Germany. (Credit: Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany)

French medical devices company Biocorp has entered into a new partnership with German pharmaceutical firm Merck focused on its Mallya device for drug delivery.

The partnership will focus on the development and distribution of a specific version of Biocorp’s Mallya device as an accessory for one of Merck’s drug delivery devices.

Under the partnership, the two companies will jointly develop a new version of Mallya to help patients monitor their injection during the treatment.

Merck will pay up to €5m for the development of the product within the first three years.

Biocorp is expected to receive additional revenues of up to €8m in the first five years, based on commercial milestones and the adoption of Mallya devices by Merck patients.

Biocorp CEO Éric Dessertenne said: “We are delighted with this new partnership with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, extending our collaboration to additional therapeutic areas.

“We had already announced that there is a great opportunity for our connected device Mallya in various therapeutic areas.

“As in diabetes, Mallya aims to reduce patients’ stress and improve compliance with their treatments to optimise and secure the results.”

The current partnership follows a similar deal between Biocorp and Merck signed last year.

It was for the development and supply of a specific version of the Mallya device for applications in the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) field.

Mallya is a Bluetooth-enabled clip-on device for pen injectors, designed to collect the dose and time of each injection and transfer the information to companion software in real time.

The device automatically keeps track of doses injected with a timestamp and shows patients with self-injections if a product is administered properly or not.

Mallya has been granted the CE mark and its commercial versions for insulin pen injectors are already available in Europe and other territories.

Last month, Biocorp and SANOFI announced the CE mark of SoloSmart, which is fully compatible with the French pharmaceutical company’s SoloStar injection pens.