Eli Lilly is making a play for the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) market, offering Mediar Therapeutics $99 million in upfront and near-term payments for global rights to an asset that is entering phase 2.
The deal, which includes up to $687 million in milestones, gives Lilly global rights to the anti-WISP1 antibody MTX-463. Researchers have linked WISP1 to fibrosis progression, leading Mediar to identify the protein as a way to reduce scarring in IPF and other diseases driven by the accumulation of scar tissue. Mediar recently finished a phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers.