Eli Lilly struck a deal Tuesday to develop new forms of gene editors potentially capable of inserting entire genes into patients.
The collaboration, with artificial intelligence-focused biotech Profluent, is sparse on details, including the number of programs the two companies would work on, the types of diseases they’ll pursue, or how much Lilly was paying upfront. But if every one of its efforts works out, Lilly would pay Profluent $2.25 billion in milestones payments.
The deal is part of a larger push by Lilly into gene editing. The big pharma, flush with record revenues from its obesity and diabetes drugs, has opened a new genetic medicine center in Boston and bought up a series of gene editing or gene therapy companies over the last few years.
