Pain Barrier: Lilly’s Acquisition of SiteOne Aims for Opioid Alternatives
Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY) on Tuesday agreed to acquire SiteOne Therapeutics, Inc., a private biotechnology company developing small-molecule inhibitors of sodium channels to treat pain and other neuronal hyperexcitability disorders.
The transaction includes STC-004, a Phase 2 ready Nav1.8 inhibitor being studied for pain.
STC-004 may represent a next-generation, non-opioid treatment for patients suffering from chronic pain.
“The global burden of chronic pain continues to increase, and an effective non-opioid treatment remains elusive,” said Mark Mintun, Lilly group vice president of Neuroscience Research and Development. “Lilly is eager to continue the development of STC-004 with the outstanding SiteOne team as part of our efforts to advance novel, addiction-free pain therapies.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will acquire SiteOne, and SiteOne shareholders could receive up to $1 billion in cash, including an upfront payment and subsequent payments upon achieving certain regulatory and commercial milestones.
Earlier in May, Eli Lilly entered into a strategic global research collaboration and licensing agreement with Rznomics Inc., a South Korea-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in RNA-based therapeutics.
The agreement focuses on developing and commercializing RNA-editing therapies using Rznomics’ proprietary trans-splicing ribozyme platform.
If Lilly exercises all available options under the agreement, the total deal value could reach more than $1.3 billion, and separate royalties on product sales. The upfront payment was not disclosed.
Price Action: LLY stock is up 1.7% at $726.14 at the last check Tuesday.
Read Next:
Photo: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
