Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to buy Verve Therapeutics Inc., a US biotech that’s seeking to use gene editing to prevent clogged arteries, for as much as $1.3 billion in the drugmaker’s latest move to build its pipeline in heart disease.
Lilly will pay as much as $13.50 per share, the companies said Tuesday. Verve surged 82% in trading before US exchanges opened, while Lilly dropped about 1%.
The deal gives Lilly full control of a program it was already helping to steer via a research collaboration. The two companies have been working together since 2023 on Verve’s experimental gene-editing program for reducing lipoprotein (a), a risk factor for a plaque buildup in arteries.
The experimental therapy could be the first to edit genes inside a living body that’s targeted to a broad population of patients, said Ruth Gimeno, Lilly’s vice president for diabetes and metabolic research and development.
Lilly will pay $10.50 per share in cash as well as a non-tradeable contingent value right that entitles the holder to receive as much as $3 extra per share.
The transaction will likely close in the third quarter, Lilly said.
{{/usCountry}}The transaction will likely close in the third quarter, Lilly said.
{{/usCountry}}With its sales fueled by the blockbuster obesity medicine Zepbound, Lilly has focused its recent dealmaking on experimental treatments that could power longer-term revenue growth. In January, it agreed to pay as much as $2.5 billion for a cancer drug being tested by Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. In May, it agreed to buy SiteOne Therapeutics Inc., a biotech developing pain medicines, for as much as $1 billion.