MannKind Corporation announced that United Therapeutics Corporation  has exercised its option—granted under the companies’ 2018 license and collaboration agreement—to develop a second dry powder inhalation therapy.

The original agreement, which led to U.S. FDA approval of Tyvaso DPI in May 2022, included an option for United Therapeutics to expand the license to include additional active ingredients. Under the terms of the expanded agreement, MannKind will formulate a second investigational molecule using its proprietary Technosphere^® platform, and United Therapeutics will conduct preclinical and clinical development.

“Building on the success of Tyvaso DPI, we are proud to deepen our collaboration with United Therapeutics to bring innovative patient-centric inhaled therapies to patients living with pulmonary hypertension,” said Michael Castagna, PharmD, Chief Executive Officer of MannKind Corporation. “This next step highlights the strength of our partnership and the versatility of our dry powder formulations and inhalation devices in addressing serious respiratory conditions.”

Under the terms of the expanded agreement, MannKind will receive an upfront payment of $5 million and is eligible to receive up to $35 million in development milestones and 10% royalties on net sales of any resulting product.

Formulation and development activities for the new investigational molecule will begin immediately.