Eli Lilly, Verge Genomics Ink $720M Pact For Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapies

Verge Genomics has announced a three-year collaboration with Eli Lilly And Co LLY to research and develop novel therapies to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a motor neuron disease.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Verge will receive up to $25 million in upfront equity investment and potential near-term payments, with an additional milestone value of $694 million and potential downstream royalties.
Verge will apply its all-in-human platform to discover and validate new targets for ALS. The all-in-human platform is based on a proprietary collection of patient brain transcriptomes across various neurodegenerative diseases.
Verge will apply its human-based discovery capabilities to validate targets.
Lilly will select up to four targets identified by Verge with plans to advance through clinical development and commercialization.
Price Action: LLY shares are down 1.75% at $231.70 in the premarket session on the last check Thursday.