USA — In a strategic move to enhance its oncology business, Eli Lilly has taken its first step by acquiring European startup Emergence Therapeutics.
The startup specializes in the development of innovative antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) to target cancers with significant unmet medical needs.
The acquisition was initially disclosed through a brief press announcement from Heidelberg Pharma, indicating that Lilly had purchased all shares of Emergence from the German biotech.
Heidelberg Pharma, a founding investor in Emergence, will receive approximately US$7 million this year from the transaction.
Additional payments of up to US$5 million may be made based on specific guarantees, as well as clinical and regulatory milestones.
While Lilly confirmed the buyout to BioPharma Dive, the company refrained from sharing further details regarding its ADC development pipeline.
Among Emergence’s pipeline candidates, the most advanced is ETx-22, which focuses on targeting Nectin-4, a surface protein commonly found on malignant cells but rarely expressed by healthy cells.
The clinical validation of Nectin-4 as a target was exemplified by the approval of Astellas and Seagen’s Padcev (enfortumab vedotin), another ADC designed for urothelial cancer.
Emergence obtained the rights to develop the novel ADC, utilizing Mablink Bioscience’s proprietary PSARlink drug-linker technology in October 2021.
Leveraging this technology, Emergence is developing ETx-22 as a next-generation ADC that specifically targets Nectin-4, aiming for efficient deconjugation from tumor cells.
This approach aims to reduce side effects such as skin toxicities, which have been dose-limiting factors for Padcev.
Additionally, the technology allows for higher doses of ETx-22, potentially increasing its efficacy without compromising safety concerns.
To support the development of ETx-22, Emergence secured approximately $94 million in Series A funding in December 2021.
The candidate is initially being developed for bladder and triple-negative breast cancer, as well as malignancies with moderate and low Nectin-4 expression levels, such as lung and ovarian cancer.
This acquisition of Emergence represents the latest investment by Eli Lilly to strengthen its cancer portfolio.
In January 2019, Lilly acquired Loxo Oncology for US$8 billion, adding Loxo’s pipeline of oral inhibitors for various cancer types.
In February 2022, the company entered into an ADC collaboration with ImmunoGen valued at up to US$1.7 billion.
Through this partnership, Lilly gained access to ImmunoGen’s camptothecin technology for the development of anti-cancer treatments targeting Type I topoisomerase.
In addition to the Emergence acquisition, Lilly has recently signed two other purchase agreements. The company announced a US$310 million deal to acquire its diabetes partner Sigilon Therapeutics, with which it has been collaborating on a Type 1 diabetes treatment.
Furthermore, Lilly acquired DICE Therapeutics for approximately US$2.4 billion, granting access to DICE’s proprietary platform for the production of small molecule drugs that disrupt protein-protein interactions to address autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
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