Lilly going bigger on obesity with Versanis buy

Eli Lilly will pay up to $1.925 billion to acquire biotech Versanis, adding its Phase II obesity candidate bimagrumab to its pipeline.

Bimagrumab is a monoclonal antibody developed by Versanis that binds activin type II A and B receptors to block activin and myostatin signaling. The candidate is in Phase II clinical trials both as a standalone drug and in combination with the antidiabetic peptide semaglutide for obesity.

Development will now be taken over by Eli Lilly, which is set to acquire Versanis for $1.925 billion in cash, including future milestones.

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“It has been a privilege for our team to advance bimagrumab to address one of the greatest health crises of our time,” said Versanis CEO Mark Pruzanski. “As a global leader developing life-changing medicines, Lilly is ideally positioned to realize the potential of bimagrumab in combination with its incretin therapies to benefit people living with cardiometabolic diseases.”

Lilly is one of several large pharma companies that has gone big, pardon the pun, on tackling obesity. Complementary to its large diabetes portfolio, the firm has several candidates, including tirzepatide under regulatory review for obesity. (The molecule is approved under the brand Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes). Lilly has a further five obesity candidates in Phase I and II studies.

Ruth Gimeno, group vice president, diabetes, obesity and cardiometabolic research at Lilly, described obesity as a chronic disease that affects over 100 million Americans. “By unifying the knowledge and expertise in incretin biology at Lilly with the deep understanding of activin biology at Versanis, we aim to harness the potential benefits of such combinations for patients.”

The acquisition is the second in as many weeks, after Eli Lilly bought Sigilon Therapeutics for $34.6 million to gain access to its cell therapies for diabetes.