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25 April 2019Big Pharma

Eli Lilly enters $35m immunology R&D deal

Eli Lilly has entered into a $35m global licensing and research agreement with biotech company  Avidity Biosciences.

In an  announcement on Monday, April 22, Eli Lilly said the collaboration will focus on the discovery, development and commercialisation of potential new immunology medicines.

Under the terms of the agreement, Avidity will receive an upfront payment of $20 million as well as an investment of $15 million.

Eli Lilly said Avidity is also eligible to receive up to $405 million in development, regulatory and commercialisation milestones plus tiered royalties.

According to the statement, the collaboration will use Avidity’s technology to progress new therapeutic approaches towards clinical development and commercialisation, Eli Lilly said.

The new drugs will be created by combining antibodies and oligonucleotides (short DNA or RNA molecules) for use in immunology.

Andrew Adams, chief scientific officer for RNA therapeutics at Eli Lilly said it was excited to expand its oligonucleotide research through the collaboration with Avidity.

“Their expertise in studying the combination of monoclonal antibodies and oligonucleotide-based therapies represent a promising avenue of research toward development of new RNA-based medicines,” Adams said.

Avidity’s chief business officer, Kent Hawryluk said the collaboration was an opportunity to leverage Avidity’s technology to “generate new therapeutic targets in disease areas that have been challenging to pursue using oligonucleotide-based approaches”.

”Lilly's extensive research, development, regulatory, and commercial capabilities make them an ideal partner, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship,” Hawryluk said.

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