SAN FRANCISCO — Eli Lilly said Monday it would acquire a cancer program from startup Scorpion Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $2.5 billion, as the Indianapolis company broadens its pipeline.
Lilly has been using its war chest of cash from sales of its obesity and diabetes drugs to snap up startups like Morphic Therapeutics, DICE Therapeutics, Versanis Bio, and POINT Biopharma.
The new deal centers on a Scorpion drug called STX-478, which is designed to inhibit mutations in the PI3Kα gene that drive breast, gynecological, and head and neck cancers. As part of the deal, Lilly is buying the privately held Scorpion, but the startup is spinning out a new company that will hold onto its employees and drug candidates not focused on PI3Kα.
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