Lilly bolsters diagnostics presence with Avid acquisition
pharmafile | November 9, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Avid Radiopharma, Eli Lilly, diabetes, emagacestat, florbetapir, lilly
Eli Lilly has acquired specialist diagnostics firm Avid Radiopharma in a deal that will bolster its diagnostics business.
Philadelphia-based Avid develops molecular-imaging compounds to detect and monitor chronic disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.
Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug semagacestat recently failed in late-stage studies after an increased risk of skin cancer was seen in trial data, but the company continues to test other compounds.
Avid’s lead programme in development is florbetapir F 18, a molecular imaging agent under investigation for detecting the presence of amyloid plaque in the brain, a defining pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.
John Lechleiter, Lilly chairman and chief executive, said: “The acquisition of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals aligns well with Lilly’s innovation-based strategy, offers a potential near-term revenue opportunity, leverages our neuroscience expertise and will immediately bolster our diagnostics capabilities.
“We look forward to partnering with Avid’s experts during the regulatory process for florbetapir, and are intent on gaining FDA approval for this promising diagnostic intended to help clinicians and researchers identify the presence of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will acquire all outstanding shares of Avid for an upfront payment of $300 million.
Its stockholders will also be eligible for up to $500 million in additional payments upon potential future regulatory and commercial milestones for florbetapir.
Lilly said in a statement that the company has already submitted marketing application for florbetapir with the FDA.
In April, Avid presented preliminary data from a late-stage clinical trial showing that florbetapir binds to indicators of Alzheimer’s in the brain and correctly identified which patients had the disease.
Daniel Skovronsky, Avid’s founder and chief executive, said: “We are very excited to join the great scientific team at Lilly and continue our work to develop new molecular imaging agents capable of changing the medical management of significant chronic human diseases.
“We’ve had a productive and long-standing relationship with Lilly, and believe in their approach to providing improved outcomes for individual patients.”
The Avid purchase is different from Lilly’s recent deals because it involves diagnostic products, not therapeutics.
Lilly recently hired a diagnostics executive Tiffany Olson from Roche to serve as VP of diagnostics research and development.
Olson said: “The acquisition of Avid supports our efforts to provide patients and physicians with diagnostics that enable speed of intervention, improve diagnosis accuracy and inform therapeutic choice.
“In addition to florbetapir, we look forward to supporting the continued clinical development of Avid’s earlier-phase diagnostics pipeline.”
The move suggests that Lilly is looking to build a diagnostics business, just as fellow pharma company Roche has done.
Ben Adams
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