MannKind Regains Rights to Afrezza

MannKind Corp. on Tuesday announced that it has regained the worldwide manufacturing and marketing rights to Afrezza Inhalation Powder, the company’s sole commercial product, from French pharma giant Sanofi. Sanofi terminated its licensing agreement with the Valencia biotech three months ago. Under the terms of the deal, Sanofi will continue distribution of its existing Afrezza inventory until MannKind takes over sometime during the third quarter. Afrezza is an inhalable insulin. “We are thrilled to begin the process of making Afrezza the successful mealtime treatment for people with diabetes that we always believed it would be,” Chief Executive of MannKind Matthew Pfeffer said in a statement. “In the coming weeks, we will roll out more information about our commercial team for Afrezza, the resources that we are designing for patients and physicians and our plans for the future.” Sanofi’s U.S. sales of Afrezza proved disappointing; the company reported only a little over $2 million in sales for the third quarter of last year. MannKind shares closed down 12 cents or 7.1 percent to $1.57 on the Nasdaq.