Lilly eyes more cancer deals, but wary of CAR-T, gene therapy

Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said that as the company looks for deals to enhance its pipeline of future treatments it will leave CAR-T therapies for cancer and gene therapy for rare diseases to others, as reported Yahoo Finance Friday.

"The data is amazing, but practically, it's not reaching many people," Ricks noted of CAR-T therapy.

"We have said it's not for us right now," Ricks said, adding that Medicare reimbursement levels were leaving hospitals to cover much of the bill for CAR-T therapy.

As for gene therapy, Ricks noted that "almost everything I am aware of is single gene edit defects, which ultimately leads you to pretty ultra-rare conditions, which are not our area of interest."

Eli Lilly recently announced that it would buy Loxo Oncology for $8 billion.

Ricks further noted that Eli Lilly recognises it was "late to the game" in the fast-growing and lucrative field of new cancer drugs, adding that the company is also developing its own immunotherapies, but would consider future deals in that arena.