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2h ago

Lilly Licenses MeiraGTx Eye Gene Therapy in Deal Worth Up to $475 Million

The agreement deepens Lilly’s push into ophthalmic gene medicines following its October move to buy Adverum Biotechnologies.

The logo of Lilly is seen on a wall of the Lilly France company unit, part of the Eli Lilly and Co drugmaker group, in Fegersheim near Strasbourg, France, February 1, 2018. Picture taken February 1, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler
Andrew Adams, Lilly’s group vice president of molecule discovery, has said that “ophthalmology is an emerging area of interest" for the company. Credit: Elena11 via Shutterstock.com.
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Overview

  • MeiraGTx will receive $75 million upfront plus more than $400 million in potential milestones, with eligibility for tiered royalties.
  • Lilly gains worldwide exclusive rights to use MeiraGTx’s gene therapy technologies in ophthalmology and certain rights to its riboswitch platform for ocular gene editing.
  • The licensed program centers on AAV-AIPL1, an investigational, one-time subretinal therapy for children with Leber congenital amaurosis 4 caused by AIPL1 mutations.
  • MeiraGTx shares rose 12.5% to $9.55 in premarket trading following the announcement.
  • The transaction extends Lilly’s expansion into eye treatments after its October agreement to acquire Adverum, which is developing an injection for wet age-related macular degeneration.