AstraZeneca was granted exclusive global rights for developing and commercialising ECC5004, except in China, where Eccogene retained the right to co-develop and co-commercialise alongside AstraZeneca. "With the number of people living with cardiometabolic conditions and obesity today already over one billion, there is a need for continued innovation and next generation therapeutic options," said Sharon Barr, executive vice-president of oncology research and development. "Building on the promising phase one clinical data generated by Eccogene, we believe this oral GLP-1RA molecule could offer alternatives to current injectable therapies both as a potential monotherapy as well as in combination for cardiometabolic diseases such as type-2 diabetes, as well as for obesity. "ECC5004 further strengthens our existing pipeline addressing both incretin and non-incretin pathways, including our GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist AZD9550, and long-acting amylin analogue AZD6234."