Lilly To Acquire Alnara Pharmaceuticals

Eli Lilly and Co. and will acquire Alnara Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biotech company developing protein therapeutics for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Alnara’s lead product is liprotamase, a non-porcine pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT), currently under review by the FDA for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of Alnara provides Lilly with a promising entry into enzyme replacement therapy, an area with unmet medical needs as well as opportunities for novel compounds that give patients additional treatment options,” said Bryce Carmine, executive vice president of Lilly and president of Lilly BioMedicines. “Alnara has been very successful in the development of liprotamase and we look forward to partnering with Alnara’s experts during the regulatory review process.”

Alexey Margolin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Alnara, said, “Our agreement with Lilly is an important development as we move liprotamase through FDA regulatory review. Lilly’s deep expertise in the U.S. pharmaceutical business created a natural fit and could allow for opportunities in markets beyond cystic fibrosis. We look forward to finalizing the transaction and working together on next steps to bring liprotamase to patients.”