InnoCare Pharma is the latest addition to Eli Lilly’s dealmaking spree, which includes some of the biggest acquisitions this year: up to $7 billion for Kelonia Therapeutics in April and up to $7.8 billion for Centessa Pharmaceuticals in March.
Eli Lilly is fronting $100 million to partner with Beijing-based InnoCare Pharma to develop novel therapies for five targets with critical unmet medical needs.
Aside from the upfront commitment, the pharma could be on the hook for around $3.25 billion in development and commercial milestone payments, according to a Thursday morning release. InnoCare will also be entitled to single-digit tiered royalties on annual net sales on any products that reach the market.
The partners will leverage InnoCare’s drug discovery platform to develop drug candidates for up to five targets. The companies haven’t disclosed what indications they plan to work on. BioSpace has reached out to Lilly for further details.
InnoCare, which focuses on cancer and autoimmune diseases, joins Lilly’s growing roster of partners and pickups as the pharma maintains a busy dealmaking pace. Late last month, the Indiana giant swallowed Merida Biosciences in a deal that could hit $2.875 billion in value, gaining the biotech’s early-stage precision therapy candidate MER511 for thyroid eye disease and Graves’ disease.
In July, Lilly paid $2.8 billion upfront plus up to $1 billion in contingent value rights to acquire AtaiBeckley, marking the pharma’s entry into the psychedelics arena.
Lilly has so far inked some of the biggest takeovers this year, including the April acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics, which could reach up to $7 billion in value, and the purchase of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in March for up to $7.8 billion.
For InnoCare, the Lilly deal is the latest contract with a Western pharma. In 2021, Biogen paid $125 million upfront to license the company’s oral BTK inhibitor orelabrutinib for multiple sclerosis. This deal included up to $812.5 million in milestones. In February 2023, however, the pharma terminated this agreement and returned the asset to InnoCare.
In October last year, Zenas BioSciences committed $100 million to pick up orelabrutinib and a host of other candidates for autoimmune conditions. Including milestones, the Zenas contract could mean more than $2 billion in payments for InnoCare.
