Eli Lilly has entered into a licence and collaboration agreement with PRISM BioLab aimed at discovering oral inhibitors of a protein-protein interaction (PPI) target, with the deal worth over $660m.
The partnership centres around PRISM’s proprietary PepMetics technology, which the Japanese biotech says has the potential to “expand the field of drug discovery by turning previously undruggable PPIs into targets readily druggable with small molecules and by generating oral small molecule alternatives for injectable biologics”.
Despite PPI dysfunction being implicated in a broad range of diseases, including cancer, fibrosis and autoimmune disorders, only a small proportion of PPIs are targeted by approved drugs.
Lilly, which will select the first PPI target, has the option to add another two to the collaboration and will be responsible for the clinical development and commercialisation of any resulting products.
In exchange, PRISM will receive undisclosed upfront payments from Lilly and will be eligible to receive up to $660m in preclinical, clinical and commercial development milestone payments, as well as royalties on product sales.
Lilly is not the first big pharma to collaborate with PRISM, which has signed deals with Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA and Roche in recent years.
Dai Takehara, president and chief executive officer of PRISM, said: “Our PepMetics technology holds promise to change the current paradigm in drug discovery by turning previously undruggable PPIs into targets readily druggable with small molecules.
“This collaboration with Lilly, an innovative global pharma company, could help us realise this vision and expand the field of druggable targets for the benefit of patients.”
The partnership with PRISM is just one of a series of deals that Lilly has made this year. Earlier this month, the company exercised its option to progress a phase 1 ready immunometabolism-targeting therapy for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, triggering an undisclosed milestone payment to its partner Sitryx Therapeutics.
Lilly also entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Point Biopharma for $1.4bn last month, giving the company access to a pipeline of clinical and preclinical-stage radioligand therapies being developed to treat cancer, and acquired Versanis earlier this year for over $1.9bn in a move that significantly boosted its cardiometabolic disease pipeline.