MannKind Seeks Inhalable Drug Partners

MannKind Corp. has hired a consulting firm to find strategic and financial partners for development of its Technosphere platform, the company announced Monday. The Valencia biotech has focused its resources on the commercialization of Afrezza, its brand of inhalable insulin, but while developing Afrezza, it created technology for the administration of drugs through the lungs, which it calls Technosphere. The company now wants to develop inhalable delivery for drugs that currently require injections to treat hypertension, anaphylactic shock, nausea, respiratory disease and pain. The company has engaged Locust Walk, a Boston life sciences consultancy, to find partners to develop uses for the Technosphere. “I am excited to collaborate with Locust Walk, who has extensive global experience in pharmaceutical partnering, to help bring our product candidates to market, such as Epinephrine Technosphere for anaphylaxis, Trepostinil Technosphere for pulmonary arterial hypertension, and Palonosetron Technosphere for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting,” Raymond Urbanski, chief medical officer at MannKind, said in a statement. Shares of MannKind (MNKD) closed Monday up 3 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $1.58 on the Nasdaq.