Eli Lilly has entered into a strategic multi-target discovery collaboration agreement with Aktis Oncology in a deal worth more than $1bn to develop novel anticancer radiopharmaceuticals.
The collaboration will combine Aktis’ radiopharmaceutical platform and Lilly’s expertise in oncology drug development and commercialisation to develop first-in-class and differentiated therapeutics for a variety of solid tumours.
Accounting for 90% of all cancers, solid tumours are characterised by an abnormal mass of tissue and are named for the type of cells that form them. Examples of solid tumours include sarcomas, carcinomas and lymphomas.
Under the terms of the agreement, Attis will receive an upfront cash payment of $60m, as well as an equity investment in Aktis by Lilly. In addition, Aktis will be eligible to receive a further $1.1bn in potential preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties.
Lilly will gain worldwide rights to develop radiopharmaceutical therapeutic and diagnostic products discovered by Aktis on a set of targets selected by Lilly, while Aktis will be responsible for programme discovery through initial human imaging studies utilising its proprietary miniprotein discovery platform.
This will include Aktis’ lead programme targeting Nectin-4, a tumour-associated antigen found in urothelial and other cancers.
The technology is designed to deliver alpha particles directly to the tumour while minimising harm to healthy cells, outperforming traditional chemotherapy and new generation antibody drug conjugates.
Jacob Van Naarden, president, Lilly Oncology, commented: “This collaboration… provides access to an exciting and innovative technology for creating important and differentiated radiopharmaceuticals.”
Matthew Roden, president and chief executive officer, Aktis, said: “We are pleased to partner with Lilly in efforts to increase the number of patients that can derive meaningful clinical benefit from targeted radiopharmaceuticals.”
Last year, in October, Lilly entered into a definitive agreement worth $1.4bn to acquire Point Biopharma, gaining access to a pipeline of clinical and preclinical-stage radioligland therapies, including PNT2003 and PNT2002, which are being developed to treat cancer.
Prior to this, Lilly shared positive late-stage results from the phase 3 LIBRETTO-531 trial which evaluated its RET inhibitor Retevmo (selpercatinib) as an initial treatment for advanced or metastatic thyroid cancer.