BEAM - Beam Announces Agreement for Lilly to Acquire Beam's Opt-In Rights to Verve Therapeutics' Base Editing Programs for Cardiovascular Disease | Benzinga
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM), a biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines through base editing, today announced that Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) has agreed to acquire certain rights under Beam's amended collaboration and license agreement with Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (Verve), including Beam's opt-in rights to co-develop and co-commercialize Verve's base editing programs for cardiovascular disease, which includes programs targeting PCSK9, ANGPTL3 and an undisclosed liver-mediated, cardiovascular target.
Under the terms of the agreement, Beam will receive a $200 million upfront payment and $50 million equity investment. Beam is also eligible to receive up to $350 million in potential future development-stage payments upon the completion of certain clinical, regulatory and alliance events for a total of up to $600 million in potential total deal consideration.
"As the pioneers in base editing, we've had a long-standing vision of enabling a wide range of disease-modifying therapies based on precision genome editing. Our strategy to achieve this has been to advance a diversified portfolio of wholly owned programs, continue to innovate in our platform, and establish creative partnerships that expand the reach of base editing and drive both near- and long-term value creation. Our initial collaboration with Verve and this new transaction with Lilly are exemplary of our execution of that strategy," said John Evans, chief executive officer of Beam. "This deal provides meaningful upfront capital to advance our portfolio of clinical- and research-stage programs, with significant additional value achievable as the Verve programs advance through development. In parallel, it provides Verve with a world-class partner for the long term, given Lilly's deep expertise and resources in the cardiovascular space. We are excited to see the broad therapeutic potential of base editing fully realized ...