HK-listed Metis TechBio, Eli Lilly strike drug-delivery deal worth up to $1.1 billion

Oct 19 — Hong Kong-listed Metis TechBio said on Monday ​it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly worth up ‌to $1.1 billion to research and develop tissue-specific drug delivery ⁠technologies.

The Chinese biotech ​will use its ⁠proprietary AI-driven drug-delivery platform to develop next-generation ‌technologies aimed ‌at improving how LNP-based drugs reach target ⁠tissues.

Metis will be ⁠eligible to receive an upfront payment in the low double-digit millions US dollars and up to about $1.1 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

It will ‌also be eligible for ​tiered royalties at a single-digit percentage of annual net sales of products that are developed due to the collaboration.

The Chinese biotech will use its proprietary AI-driven ionizable lipid discovery and optimisation platform to ​develop delivery technologies aimed at improving the ‌targeting and ‌biodistribution ⁠of LNP-based therapies.

Metis and Lilly aim to discover and optimise novel LNP architectures that could improve tissue specificity and therapeutic performance, ‌with potential applications ​across multiple disease areas.

(Reporting ‌by Nikita Maria ⁠Jino ​and Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet ​Das)

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