By Joseph Haas on November 25, 2020
Lilly Teams With Precision On DMD, Genetic Diseases
Eli Lilly and Company and genome-editing firm Precision BioSciences, Inc. unveiled a research collaboration and license agreement on 20 November centered on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and targets in two other genetic disorders. Precision gets $100m in upfront cash under the agreement, a $35m equity investment (3.76 million Precision shares at $9.30, a 6% premium) and can earn up to $420m in development and commercial milestones for each target plus tiered sales royalties.
Precision said it will apply its proprietary ARCUS genome-editing technology to identify and develop potential in vivo therapies for genetic disorders. The platform offers specificity, ability to make a variety of efficient edits (knock-in, knock-out and repair), and small size, which enables a range of therapeutic editing. Arcus derives from a natural genome-editing enzyme called I-CreI, a homing endonuclease that can be optimized to control for potency and specificity.
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