Lilly bets big on Loxo’s cancer drugs

Source: Xinhua | 2019-01-08

Eli Lilly and Co said yesterday it would buy Loxo Oncology Inc for about US$8 billion in cash, making its biggest bet on a cancer therapy market expected to be worth several billions of dollars.

The deal follows Bristol-Myers Squibb Co agreement last week to buy Celgene Corp for US$74 billion, and gives Lilly access to Loxo’s portfolio of targeted medicines that treat cancers caused by rare gene mutations.

The portfolio is centered around the company’s first commercial medicine, Vitrakvi, which is sold in partnership with Bayer AG.

Shares of Lilly were down 2.5 percent. Loxo was trading close the offer price of US$235 per share — a 68 percent premium to Friday’s close.

“The acquisition of Loxo, along with last week’s acquisition of Celgene, may represent the cream of the crop in biotech being harvested by big pharma,” IFS Securities analyst David Bouchey said.