Intarcia Therapeutics has announced the acquisition of Phoundry Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biotechnology company based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Founded in 2015 after six years of work as part of the Enteroendocrine Discovery Performance Unit of GlaxoSmithKline, Phoundry Pharmaceuticals has created a portfolio of optimized peptides in various therapeutic categories, most notably diabetes and obesity.

Phoundry enhances Intarcia’s internal efforts to build upon the differentiated clinical success of its phase III investigational therapy, ITCA 650, the first injection-free GLP-1 therapy with the potential to deliver up to a full year of treatment from a single placement.

As a result of the Phoundry acquisition and the separate Numab collaboration formed earlier this year, Intarcia now will have expanding intellectual property rights and three distinct near-term R&D programs targeting diabetes and obesity.

Intarcia will fund the acquisition via a combination of cash and stock. The parties agreed not to disclose the specific financial terms of the transaction. Intarcia will retain all Phoundry employees as well a presence in Research Triangle Park, and expects to double head count within 12 to 18 months. Paul Feldman will become a member of Intarcia’s executive leadership team, serving as VP, head of discovery and translational medicine, while Andrew Young will become VP, chief scientific officer and Ved Srivastava will assume the role of VP, peptide chemistry. In addition to the near-term priority focus on diabetes and obesity, both the Phoundry acquisition and the Numab collaboration formed earlier this year have additional R&D pipeline projects with potential in other serious chronic diseases.