The midwest's largest pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), recently made a big bet on a protein that nearly landed on a scrap heap just a couple of years ago. Today, Lilly announced its plans to acquire Dermira (NASDAQ: DERM) a commercial-stage biotechnology company developing a potential new eczema treatment called lebrikizumab. The deal is valued at $1.1 billion.
Dermira markets disposable cloths that prevent excessive underarm sweating under the Qbrexza brand, but sales reached just $20.7 million during the first nine months of 2019. The asset Eli Lilly's really interested in is lebrikizumab, an IL-13/IL-4 inhibitor that leans toward IL-13.
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