Lilly Acquires Adverum to Advance Eye Gene Therapy

Eli Lilly and Company announced a final deal for Lilly to purchase Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. (Adverum), including its lead product candidate, Ixo-vec. Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. is a clinical-stage company that is leading the use of intravitreal gene therapy with the goal of preserving sight for life in extremely common ocular diseases.

With the goal of creating functional treatments to restore vision and prevent blindness, Adverum is creating a pipeline of intravitreal single-administration gene therapies. Wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) is being treated using Ixo-vec, its main product candidate, an intravitreal gene therapy.

This serious, chronic and progressive retinal disease impacts millions of people worldwide. Ixo-vec is developed as a single one-time treatment to provide continuous and stable intraocular aflibercept exposure, relieving the significant patient burden associated with chronic anti-VEGF therapies and improved vision outcomes.

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Ixo-vec is currently being assessed in the ARTEMIS phase 3 clinical studies, with screening now complete. The program has received Fast Track designation and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as PRIME designation from the European Medicines Agency and an Innovation Passport from the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for wAMD.

"Ixo-vec has the potential to transform wAMD treatment from a paradigm of chronic care with repeated intravitreal injections to a convenient one-time therapy," said Andrew Adams, Lilly group vice president, Molecule Discovery. "We are eager to welcome Adverum colleagues to Lilly and to help accelerate this innovative medicine to patients."