Drug Giant Eli Lilly To Purchase Tiny Startup In $8B Deal To Get Access To Company’s Cancer Treatments
The purchase could be very lucrative for Eli Lilly. Loxo Oncology's drug Vitrakvi was approved by the FDA recently based on evidence that it can shrink tumors in 75 percent of patients whose cancer tests positive for a particular kind of genetic mutation.
Bloomberg:
Pharma's 2019 Starts Big As Lilly To Buy Loxo For $8 Billion
Eli Lilly & Co. will acquire Loxo Oncology Inc. for about $8 billion in cash, the second multibillion-dollar cancer deal of the year by a major U.S. pharmaceutical company. The purchase is Indianapolis-based Lilly’s biggest takeover ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Loxo holders will get $235 per share in cash, the companies said in a statement Monday. The Stamford, Connecticut-based biotechnology company is developing cancer treatments that target a tumor’s genetic markers regardless of where in the body they’re located. (Spalding, 1/7)
Stat:
Eli Lilly To Buy Loxo Oncology For $8 Billion In Huge Bet On Cancer Genetics
The deal price of $235 per share represents a 68 percent premium to Loxo’s closing price on Friday, and a rich gain for Loxo shareholders. Shares in the Stamford, Conn., company had already risen 975 percent since its September 2014 initial public offering. The reason: two experimental cancer pills that worked fantastically well in very small numbers of patients. “We’re excited,” Dr. Daniel M. Skovronsky, Lilly’s senior vice president and chief scientific officer, said in an interview. “As we went through the process … every single person on our team who looked at this and touched it had this feeling that these are the kind of medicines I want to be associated with, that I want to spend my career working on, because of the impact for patients.” (Herper, 1/7)
The Associated Press:
Eli Lilly To Spend About $8B On Loxo Oncology
Lilly, known for insulins like Humalog, has emphasized oncology growth over the past several years, and one of its top-selling products is the cancer treatment Alimta. Eli Lilly and Co. will pay $235 for each share of Stamford, Connecticut-based Loxo. That’s a 68 percent premium to the company’s Friday closing price of $139.87. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. (1/7)
