Spend it on a fee of 1.1 billion! Lilly bet on extra-body delivery technology to develop RNA drugs for neurological diseases

On June 9, Evox Therapeutics announced a 1.1 billion euro partnership with Eli Lilly to develop RNA drugs for the treatment of neurological diseases through exosomes delivered to the brainAs part of the deal, Evox will receive an advance of 17.6 million euros as a fund for research over the next three yearsLilly will also invest 8.8 million euros in convertible bondsIn addition, Evox will be eligible for more than 1 billion euros in preclinical research, regulatory and commercial mileage, as well as royalties, in the futurethe two companies did not disclose specific neuropathyIt is reported that during the cooperation, Evox will be responsible for the engineering design of exosomes to achieve brain/central nervous system targeting, drug loading and analysis, as well as some in vitro assays development, and to provide materials for initial in vivo researchAfter completing the preclinical proof-of-concept study, Evox will transfer any candidate drugs and technologies to LillyPhoto Source: Evox Therapeutics, Eli Lilly
Evox, a private biotech company based in Oxford, UK, focuses on developing new biotherapeutic drugs using the natural transport capacity of exosomes, an exosomeEvox has developed a number of proprietary techniques that use a variety of molecular engineering, drug loading and targeting strategies to modify exosomes to facilitate the transmission of targeted drugs to target organs, including the brain and central nervous systemexosomes are small fat particles that transport proteins and RNAs around cells where they are neededEvox has found a way to use this natural cellular transport system to deliver drugs to certain parts of the body, allowing the company to target treatments to certain tissues without having to go through a liver that prevents the drug from reaching its destination"The biotechnology industry has been trying to develop artificial solutions for the treatment of RNA drugs, but with little success," said Antonin de Fougerolles, chief executive ofEvoxIn contrast, we have drawn on natural solutions to this problem as a starting point and are engineering external urns to improve their drug-like properties.", because the blood-brain barrier prevents molecules from entering the brain, the brain is a particularly difficult target for drug developmentExosomes may be a way to bypass this barrier "We have early preclinical data, some of which have been published, suggesting that exosomes can be designed and directed to successfully deliver RNA interference (RNAi) drugs to the brain," said de Fougerolles The partnership between and Lilly is Evox's second big deal in the past three months Evox signed an 800m euro deal with Takeda pharmaceuticals at the end of March to use its exosome technology to tackle rare diseases although the two partners' technology platforms are the same, de Fougerolles explained that the partnership with Lilly will focus on neural targets and the development of small RNA drugs, especially those based on RNAi and antisense oligonucleotides Takeda, on the other hand, hopes to develop messenger RNA or protein drugs for rare diseases References: 1?Evox and Lilly Partner to Develop Neuro Neuro Drugs in Deal Worth s1.1B (Source: LABIOTECH.eu) 2 s EvoX Therapeutics A Multi-target RNA Lyon and Antisense Research And Agreement License With Lilly (Source: EVOX Therapeutics)