CSL will need more than $100 million to recover from
its current difficulties
, but it’s a start.
Eli Lilly has paid the nine-figure sum upfront for rights to the Australian company’s anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody in unspecified indications.
The drug is called clazakizumab, and CSL is developing it for patients with end-stage kidney disease who are on dialysis and at risk of major cardiovascular events. A placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 trial in more than 2,000 patients is ongoing, but will not generate data until 2029. CSL is keeping exclusive rights to develop and sell clazakizumab in this indication.
What Lilly is planning for the molecule is less clear. CSL’s head of R&D Bill Mezzanotte said in a Wednesday
press release
that the drug has potential in “various immuno-inflammatory and cardiovascular conditions,” but the US drugmaker has not set out its development plans.
Lilly could make further payments to CSL if the drug hits clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as royalties on global sales.
These amounts were not specified, but CSL’s investors will have to hope the payments are frequent and generous. A week ago, the company released its financials for the six months ended Dec. 31, and they made for
tough
reading. Its net profit collapsed 81% from the prior year and it took $1.1 billion in write-downs, including for its $200 million upfront
licensing agreement
with Arcturus Therapeutics for Covid-19 and other vaccines.
CSL’s CEO Paul McKenzie had
left the day before
, with the company’s chair saying McKenzie “didn’t have the skills that we wanted for the future.”
IL-6-targeting antibodies have been the subject of dealmaking elsewhere. Last fall, Novartis
bought Tourmaline Bio
to get a hold of pacibekitug, which had shown promise in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Pacibekitug is also in a mid-stage trial in thyroid eye disease, so perhaps this could be an avenue for Lilly to explore. Novo Nordisk also has an IL-6 candidate, which is called ziltivekimab.
CSL obtained clazakizumab through its
acquisition
of Vitaeris for an unspecified amount in 2020.