Lilly acquires biotech firm Protomer Technologies for $1bn

Eli Lilly has acquired a private biotech firm Protomer Technologies for a potential deal value of more than $1bn, including development and commercial milestones in the future.

Earlier, Lilly made an equity investment in Protomer along with the JDRF T1D Fund, acquiring a 14% stake in the biotech company.

As per the latest deal, Lilly is purchasing the remaining shares in Protomer.

Established in 2015, Protomer is a US-based company that produces advanced protein therapies to sense molecular activators in the body and activate automatically based on the requirement.

The peptide- and protein-engineering platform of the company can be leveraged to detect and synthesise molecules that sense glucose or additional endogenous modulators of protein activity.

This platform aids in creating peptide and protein therapeutics with an activity that can be regulated using small molecules. The aim is to attain variable dosing and targeted delivery.

In addition, the chemical biology-based platform facilitates quick turn-on and -off for automatic regulation of activity.

Protomer utilised this method to develop a therapeutic candidate portfolio that includes glucose-responsive insulins, which can sense blood sugar levels and automatically activate as required throughout the day.

Eli Lilly diabetes research and clinical investigation vice-president Ruth Gimeno said: “Glucose-sensing insulin is the next frontier and has the potential to revolutionise the treatment and quality of life of people with diabetes by dramatically improving both therapeutic efficacy and safety of insulin therapy.

“Protomer’s glucose-sensing insulin programme, based on its proprietary molecular engineering of protein sensors (MEPS) platform, is showing significant promise and Lilly is excited to enhance our diabetes pipeline with the company’s innovative technology.”

Aquilo Partners is serving as financial advisor for Protomer while Morrison & Foerster is the legal advisor. Lilly’s legal counsel is Kirkland & Ellis.