Evox Therapeutics signs US$1.2bn deal with Eli Lilly

Under the collaboration in brain/CNS disorders with Eli Lilly, Oxford-based Evox Therapeutics Ltd is eligible to receive approximately US-$1.2bn in development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Under the contract Evox will receive a US-$20m upfront payment,  and research funding for over three years, as well as a US-$10m investment from Eli Lilly in exchange for a convertible bond.

While Eli Lilly will provide antisense oligonucleotides directed against five, not specified yet, neurological drug targets, Evox Therapeutics will provide its exosome-based drug delivery platform DeliverEX^TM to allow targeted drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. Under the deal, Evox Therapeutics will be responsible for exosome engineering in order to achieve brain/CNS-targeting, drug loading and analytics and some in vitro assay development, as well as material supply for initial in vivo studies. Any resulting candidate handover and technology transfer to Lilly will occur after pre-clinical proof of concept studies have been complete. Under the deal Eli Lilly will commercialise all licenced drug candidates. Evox will receive tiered royalties on net sales if a product makes it to the market.

“This agreement with Lilly allows us to explore both the potential of our platform to deliver oligonucleotide payloads, a class of drugs of increasing importance, and the suitability of our exosome technology for CNS targeting," said Dr Antonin de Fougerolles, Chief Executive Officer of Evox.