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Lilly to Boost Migraine Pipeline with $960M CoLucid Buyout
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Eli Lilly and Company (LLY - Free Report) announced that it plans to buy Cambridge, MA-based biotech firm CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for approximately $960 million in cash. The deal will enhance Lilly’s pain management portfolio for migraine.
The announcement sent CoLucid’s soaring over 32%, while Lilly’s stock gained around 1%. In fact, so far this year, Lilly’s share price has improved 5.4%, much better than the Zacks-classified Large-Cap Pharma industry’s 0.5% return.
Coming back to the latest news, CoLucid is developing lasmiditan, a 5-HT1F agonist, for the acute treatment of migraine headaches – a medical condition that affects more than 36 million people in the U.S. alone. Originally, Lilly was developing lasmiditan but had licensed the product to CoLucid in 2005 since pain management was not a key area of focus for Lilly back then. Now, however, Lilly will regain lasmiditan in its portfolio and will be responsible for its phase III development as well as its potential commercialization.
Lasmiditan, which comes in the form of oral tablets, is presently in phase III studies. The candidate boosts Lilly’s late-stage pipeline which also includes galcanezumab (in phase III studies for cluster headache and migraine prevention). Lilly’s pain portfolio also includes tanezumab, being evaluated, in collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. (PFE - Free Report) , for the treatment of multiple pain indications, including osteoarthritis, lower back and cancer pain.
CoLucid has successfully completed the first pivotal phase III trial on lasmiditan, and data from the second pivotal phase III study (SPARTAN) are expected in the second half of 2017. If the second study also exhibits positive data, lasmiditan is expected to be filed for FDA approval in 2018.
Lilly will pay $46.50 per share for all shares of CoLucid, representing an over 30% premium on the stock’s closing price as of Tuesday. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter.
Though the deal looks promising at this juncture, it remains to be seen if lasmiditan gets approved on time and brings in robust sales for Lilly.
Last week, Lilly scored a major win in an important patent infringement case against generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA - Free Report) , with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upholding the validity and infringement of the former’s vitamin regimen patent for its cancer treatment, Alimta. A favorable outcome in all the remaining challenges will ensure that Alimta does not face generic competition before May 2022.
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Lilly to Boost Migraine Pipeline with $960M CoLucid Buyout
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY - Free Report) announced that it plans to buy Cambridge, MA-based biotech firm CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for approximately $960 million in cash. The deal will enhance Lilly’s pain management portfolio for migraine.
The announcement sent CoLucid’s soaring over 32%, while Lilly’s stock gained around 1%. In fact, so far this year, Lilly’s share price has improved 5.4%, much better than the Zacks-classified Large-Cap Pharma industry’s 0.5% return.
Coming back to the latest news, CoLucid is developing lasmiditan, a 5-HT1F agonist, for the acute treatment of migraine headaches – a medical condition that affects more than 36 million people in the U.S. alone. Originally, Lilly was developing lasmiditan but had licensed the product to CoLucid in 2005 since pain management was not a key area of focus for Lilly back then. Now, however, Lilly will regain lasmiditan in its portfolio and will be responsible for its phase III development as well as its potential commercialization.
Lasmiditan, which comes in the form of oral tablets, is presently in phase III studies. The candidate boosts Lilly’s late-stage pipeline which also includes galcanezumab (in phase III studies for cluster headache and migraine prevention). Lilly’s pain portfolio also includes tanezumab, being evaluated, in collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. (PFE - Free Report) , for the treatment of multiple pain indications, including osteoarthritis, lower back and cancer pain.
CoLucid has successfully completed the first pivotal phase III trial on lasmiditan, and data from the second pivotal phase III study (SPARTAN) are expected in the second half of 2017. If the second study also exhibits positive data, lasmiditan is expected to be filed for FDA approval in 2018.
Lilly will pay $46.50 per share for all shares of CoLucid, representing an over 30% premium on the stock’s closing price as of Tuesday. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter.
Though the deal looks promising at this juncture, it remains to be seen if lasmiditan gets approved on time and brings in robust sales for Lilly.
Last week, Lilly scored a major win in an important patent infringement case against generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA - Free Report) , with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upholding the validity and infringement of the former’s vitamin regimen patent for its cancer treatment, Alimta. A favorable outcome in all the remaining challenges will ensure that Alimta does not face generic competition before May 2022.
Lilly has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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