Company hopes to replace recently failed candidates.
Eli Lilly is looking to bring new assets into its pipeline. In February 2019, it acquired Loxo Oncology, Inc for $8 billion to expand its oncology position with a pipeline of highly selective potential medicines for patients with genomically defined cancers.
It recently followed that purchase with the acquisition of rights to Centrexion’s early-stage non-opioid pain drug CNTX-0290 for $47.5 million up front. CNTX-0290 is a small molecule somatostatin receptor type 4 (SSTR4) agonist that Centrexion acquired from Boehringer Ingelheim in 2016. Centrexion could receive up to an additional $575 million in potential development and regulatory milestones, as well as an additional $375 million in potential sales milestones and tiered royalties if the drug is approved.