Lilly will use Rznomics’ proprietary ribozyme technology to develop RNA editing therapies for congenital hearing loss.
Eli Lilly has put up to $1.3 billion on the line to partner with South Korea’s Rznomics and gain access to the biotech’s novel RNA editors for hearing loss.
Aside from the total deal value, details of Thursday’s arrangement remain sparse—the partners did not disclose how much Lilly is paying upfront, nor did they specify how many candidates they will collaborate on. Aside from the contract payments, including milestones, Rznomics will also be entitled to “separate royalties” on products that could come out of the partnership.
The agreement will allow Lilly to leverage Rznomics’ proprietary trans-splicing ribozyme technology. The biotech’s approach makes use of a ribozyme, an RNA molecule that has enzymatic activity, loaded with a therapeutic RNA, as per its website. This complex molecule targets a disease-specific RNA, onto which the ribozyme splices its therapeutic payload, resulting in the expression of a specific gene that, in turn, could help manage certain diseases.
Lilly aims to use this approach to address the heritable form of sensorineural hearing loss, one of the most common forms of hearing loss. Under the terms of Thursday’s partnership, Rznomics will be responsible for early-stage studies, following a “jointly approved” plan, after which Lilly will be in charge of further development and commercialization.
Lilly has an ongoing project to target this same indication. In January 2024, the pharma announced that its investigational gene therapy AK-OTOF restored hearing in an 11-year-old boy within 30 days of treatment. After treatment with AK-OTOF, the boy’s hearing returned to the normal hearing range.
AK-OTOF uses an adeno-associated virus vector to deliver a functional copy of the otoferlin gene directly to the hair cells in the inner cochlea. The therapy was originally developed by Akouos, which Lilly acquired for $487 million in October 2022.
Joining Lilly in the hearing loss arena is Regeneron, which is also advancing a gene therapy dubbed DB-OTO. Like Lilly’s candidate, DB-OTO delivers a functional copy of the otoferlin gene to restore hearing in children with congenital hearing loss. Data released in May 2024 showed that the treatment could restore normal hearing within 24 weeks of infusion.
Regeneron followed this up with a readout in February, showing that DB-OTO could restore at least partial hearing in 10 of 12 treated children who had profound hearing loss associated with otoferlin dysfunction.
