Proteus and Otsuka sign up for another five years

So pleased is Otsuka with the performance of its smart pill for schizophrenia, Abilify MyCite, that it has expanded its collaboration with Proteus Digital Health, the developer of the sensor embedded in the tablet. Proteus has received $88m from Otsuka in equity and other payments, but the deal’s total value could be between $500m and $700m according to an unconfirmed report in the Financial Times. The five-year expansion of the collaboration covers the development of digital medicines for serious mental health disorders; this will likely involve the incorporation of Proteus’s ingestible sensor tech into new smart pills. These sensors can track the absorption and metabolism of the drug as well as the therapy’s effects on the body, but the groups also intend to develop next-generation product features and sensor capabilities. The deal will buoy Proteus’s valuation, already at unicorn levels, still further. And Otsuka is not Proteus’s only partner; it currently has three active clinical trials in infectious diseases in collaboration with groups including Gilead Sciences and Glaxosmithkline.