Eli Lilly pushes into pulmonary fibrosis with $99M deal for Mediar's midphase prospect

 Eli Lilly is making a play for the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) market, offering Mediar Therapeutics $99 million in upfront and near-term payments for global rights to an asset that is entering phase 2.

The deal, which includes up to $687 million in milestones, gives Lilly global rights to the anti-WISP1 antibody MTX-463. Researchers have linked WISP1 to fibrosis progression, leading Mediar to identify the protein as a way to reduce scarring in IPF and other diseases driven by the accumulation of scar tissue. Mediar recently finished a phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers.

With the study showing MTX-463 is well tolerated and engages WISP1, Lilly has swooped in to secure an asset that could unlock a market currently dominated by Boehringer Ingelheim’s Ofev and Roche’s Esbriet. Efforts to create next-generation products have largely ended in failure, although Boehringer reported a phase 3 win last year.

Lilly has been an observer as other companies have swung and missed at IPF, but it does have some links to the indication. Endeavor BioMedicines is testing an ex-Lilly molecule in IPF. Morphic once had an IPF collaboration with AbbVie, but the biotech was focused on inflammatory bowel disease by the time Lilly bought it last year.

The Mediar deal establishes Lilly as a player in the IPF space, albeit one that is further from market than some of the other runners and riders. Mediar plans to start a phase 2 trial of MTX-463 in the first half of 2025. The biotech will run the midphase trial and then hand over to Lilly for further development.

Lilly is one of a handful of Big Pharmas that secured a close look at Mediar through venture investments. Bristol Myers Squibb, Lilly, Novartis Venture Fund, Ono Venture Investment and Pfizer Ventures invested in 2023 in the $105 million financing that positioned Mediar to enter the clinic. The funding reflected the potential for Mediar to deliver a first-in-class therapy that more precisely treats IPF than existing drugs.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/eli-lilly-pushes-pulmonary-fibrosis-99m-deal-mediars-midphase-prospect