Eli Lilly to buy immuno-oncology firm in $1.6bn deal
Eli Lilly has set its sights on Armo BioSciences in a bid to strengthen its immuno-oncology programme.
Announced yesterday, May 10, the deal will see Eli Lilly acquire the late-stage immuno-oncology company for $1.6 billion in an all-cash transaction.
Armo BioSciences’ lead product candidate, pegilodecakin, has demonstrated clinical benefit as a single agent, said Eli Lilly. It’s also demonstrated benefit in combination with both chemotherapy and checkpoint inhibitor therapy, across several tumour types.
Pegilodecakin is currently being studied in a phase 3 clinical trial in pancreatic cancer, as well as earlier-phase trials in lung and renal cell cancer, melanoma and other solid tumour types.
Sue Mahony, Eli Lilly senior vice president and president of oncology, explained that the acquisition adds a “promising next generation clinical immunotherapy asset to Eli Lilly’s portfolio of innovative oncology medicines”.
Peter Van Vlasselaer, president and CEO of Armo BioSciences, added: “Given the resources that Eli Lilly, a leader in oncology research and development, can bring to bear to maximise the value of pegilodecakin and the rest of the Armo pipeline, we believe it is in the best interest of Armo, our stockholders and the patients we serve to execute this transaction.”
The first five months of the year have seen a flood of mergers and acquisitions activity.
Earlier this week, LSIPR reported that Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda agreed to acquire biotech company Shire for $62 billion.
In February, Switzerland-based Roche revealed plans to acquire healthcare technology company Flatiron Health for $1.9 billion.
One month before, Paris-based Sanofi announced an $11.6 billion deal to buy Bioverativ, a US-based biotech company focused on haemophilia treatments.
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