U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly signed an agreement worth up to $1.12 billion with Seamless Therapeutics, the Germany-based startup said on Wednesday, to develop and commercialize treatments for hearing loss using the biotech’s gene-editing platform.
The deal will give Lilly access to its proprietary technology to design specially engineered enzymes to correct certain gene mutations linked to hearing loss.
These enzymes, called programmable recombinases, are designed to make large, precise changes to DNA at specific locations without relying on the cell’s own DNA repair pathway.
Lilly would oversee the development from preclinical testing through to commercialization.
The deal is a “way for us to work with the platform, with a partner, but continue our own internal program,” Seamless CEO Albert Seymour told Reuters in an interview. He said the company is open to similar partnerships beyond Lilly.
Eli Lilly signs up to $1.12 billion deal with private gene-editing firm Seamless
Popular Categories
Previous article![]( "Corcept’s cancer drug cuts risk of death in ovarian cancer trial")
Next article![]( "Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic US advertising spend doubles rival Eli Lilly, data shows")
