Zealand Pharma A/S is a Danish

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

research company, which designs and develops peptide-based medicines, mainly focusing on

metabolic diseases Inborn errors of metabolism form a large class of genetic diseases involving congenital disorders of enzyme activities. The majority are due to defects of single genes that code for enzymes that facilitate conversion of various substances ( substra ...

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

and

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

. The company's head office is situated in Søborg near

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and it has close to 200 employees. In 2018 they opened a subsidiary in

the US The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Zealand Pharma forms part of the Danish-Swedish life science cluster

Medicon Valley Medicon Valley is a leading international life-sciences cluster in Europe, spanning the Greater Copenhagen region of eastern Denmark and southern Sweden. It is one of Europe's strongest life science clusters, with many life science companies and ...

History

Zealand Pharma A/S was founded in 1998 by Lars Hellerung Christiansen, Eva Steiness and Dr. Bjarne Due Larsen. As it was founded, it was a

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company focusing on design and development of peptide-based medicines, which would be brought to the market through partnerships with other multinational

pharmaceutical companies The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

. In 2005 Zealand Pharma tried to be listed on the

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...

, but had to resign for want of interest from investors. In 2010 they finally succeeded in being listed, and the stocks are now traded at the

Copenhagen Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Copenhagen, formerly known as the Copenhagen Stock Exchange ( da, Københavns Fondsbørs), is an international marketplace for Danish securities, including shares, bonds, treasury bills and notes, and financial futures and options. ...

(NASDAQ OMX København). On January 15, 2015, Britt Meelby Jensen acquired the position as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

from David Solomon, who had led the company during the years 2008-2014. In February 2019, Jensen left her position, and in April 2019, Emmanuel Dulac was chosen and inaugurated as

. Dulac has worked both European and American companies within the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

. In September 2019, the Dutch family foundation Van Herk Investments injected 560 million Danish Kroner (approx. 64 million

pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...

) into Zealand Pharma, which means the foundation owns a fifth of the company's shares. In October 2019, Zealand Pharma bought up the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

biotechnology company Encycle Therapeutics. On March 30, 2022, Dr. Adam Steensberg assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer.

Product development

Zealand Pharma does not promote and sell products in the market themselves, however, they form partnerships with several international

, who are responsible for placing the products on the market. Zealand Pharma is mostly known and recognized for the

diabetes medication Drugs used in diabetes treat diabetes mellitus by altering the glucose level in the blood. With the exceptions of insulin, most GLP receptor agonists (liraglutide, exenatide, and others), and pramlintide, all are administered orally and are thu ...

Lyxumia, which has been developed in collaboration with the French

pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Syn ...

. Since 2014, Zealand Pharma has collaborated with the coronary care unit at

Rigshospitalet Rigshospitalet (meaning ''The National'', ''State'' or ''Hospital of the Realm'', but not usually translated) is the largest public and teaching hospital in Copenhagen and the most highly specialised hospital in Denmark. The hospital's main buildi ...

developing the medication Danegaptid, which should serve the purpose of preventing injuries in the tissue of the heart, frequently seen among

angioplasty Angioplasty, is also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atheroscle ...

patients. Furthermore, they are developing several

orphan drugs An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent developed to treat medical conditions which, because they are so rare, would not be profitable to produce without government assistance. The conditions are referred to as orphan diseases. The assignment of ...

with government assistance. Because of the acquisition of the Canadian Encycle Therapeutics, Zealand Pharma now also possesses the right to develop and sell the pre-clinical candidate medication ET3764, which is also being developed for the treatment of diseases of the

alimentary tract The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...

.
Product pipeline — Zealand pharma

References

{{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of Denmark