Eli Lilly Teams Up With Two Biotechs To Target Autoimmune Disease, Hearing Loss In Deals Worth $3 Billion
LillyLilly(US:LLY) Benzinga·2026-01-29 18:58

Core Insights - Repertoire Immune Medicines has entered a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co to develop tolerizing therapies for multiple autoimmune diseases [1][2] Group 1: Collaboration Details - Under the agreement, Repertoire will receive an upfront payment of $85 million and up to an additional $1.84 billion for achieving specific development and commercial milestones, along with tiered royalties on net sales [2][3] - Repertoire will lead collaboration activities until the nomination of development candidates, while Eli Lilly will take charge of clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, and commercialization of the therapies [3] Group 2: Technology and Development - Repertoire will utilize its T cell receptor (TCR)-epitope discovery platform, DECODE, to discover and develop candidates for tolerizing therapies [4] - The collaboration aims to create treatments that restore immune homeostasis and provide durable remission without the generalized immune suppression typical of current therapies [3] Group 3: Additional Collaborations - Eli Lilly has also collaborated with Seamless Therapeutics to develop programmable recombinase-based treatments targeting hearing loss, with Seamless eligible for over $1.12 billion in potential payments [5][6][7] - The agreement with Seamless includes an upfront payment and committed research and development funding, with Lilly receiving an exclusive license for the programmed recombinases [6]