Preview: Drug Deal Extends MannKind’s Life Expectancy

Once again, MannKind Corp. is back from the brink of death. The Westlake Village pharmaceutical firm has signed a licensing agreement valued at up to $105 million with United Therapeutics for Mannkind’s Treprostinil Technosphere, a treatment that pairs Mannkind’s proprietary drug delivery system with a compound used for treating a lung disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH. Pending Federal Trade Commission approval, in which United Therapeutics will handle commercialization of the technology, the deal will give Mannkind a $45 million upfront payment – money it urgently needs to replenish its cash reserves, which by the end of the second fiscal quarter had fallen to the point where some questioned whether bankruptcy was imminent. “What this really does is prove that Mannkind’s technology platform that we’ve invested in for over 20 years is valuable,” Dr. Michael Castagna, chief executive of Mannkind, told the Business Journal in an interview. Read the full story in the Sept. 17 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.