Lilly acquires SGX Pharma and drug discovery platform
pharmafile | July 9, 2008 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |Â Â biotechÂ
Lilly is to buy SGX Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company that specialises in cutting-edge technology which helps drug discovery and design.
The US pharmaceutical company is to pay $64 million, and want to integrate SGX's 'structure-guided' drug discovery platform into its own drug discovery operations. Lilly will also gain a portfolio of pre-clinical oncology compounds focused on a number of kinase targets.
The two companies have been working together since 2003, using SGX's technology to create three-dimensional structures of key Lilly drug targets. This process, using x-ray crystallography technology, helps drug developers to design new molecules to hit these targets more effectively.
SGX also has a synchrotron beamline facility, SGX-CAT, which is a state-of-the-art synchrotron facility enabling X-ray crystallography and protein structure determination.
Lilly's head of science and technology Steven Paul said: "After a successful collaboration over the past several years, we are excited to bring the scientific and technological expertise of SGX into Lilly's research organisation, while at the same time expanding our presence in the San Diego area"
"We will leverage the combined resources of both companies to strengthen our structural biology capabilities and seek out innovative therapies for patients," he added.
SGX Pharmaceuticals said the deal provides an excellent opportunity to realise the potential of its platform and pipeline.
Chief executive Mike Grey said: "As we have evolved from a platform technology organisation to a drug discovery company, we believe this transaction represents a timely opportunity to place our programmes and technology assets in the hands of a world-class company with the experience and resources to advance innovative treatments for patients."
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