Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY), a leading pharmaceutical company in the U.S., has announced that it has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with fellow U.S. firm Morphic Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: MORF). Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will acquire Morphic in a transaction valued at USD 3.2 billion. Shareholders of Morphic will receive USD 57 per share, which represents a 79% premium over the biotech’s recent closing price. The acquisition has been approved by the boards of both companies and is anticipated to be fully completed by the third quarter of 2024.
Lilly’s interest in Morphic is largely due to the latter’s pipeline of oral small-molecule integrin therapies. MORF-057, a selective inhibitor of α4β7 integrin, is at the forefront of this pipeline and is currently under development for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease. MORF-057 is being evaluated in Phase II studies for these conditions. The drug was developed using Morphic’s proprietary MInT technology platform, which underscores the company’s expertise in integrin structure and biology. In addition to MORF-057, Morphic’s preclinical pipeline encompasses molecules targeting autoimmune diseases, pulmonary hypertensive diseases, fibrotic diseases, and cancer.- Flcube.com
