Eli Lilly to buy gene-editing biotech Verve Therapeutics Inc. for $1.3 billion

Jun 17, 2025 05:19 PM IST

Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to buy Verve Therapeutics Inc., a US biotech that’s seeking to use gene editing to prevent clogged arteries, for as much as $1.3 billion.

Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to buy Verve Therapeutics Inc., a US biotech that’s seeking to use gene editing to prevent clogged arteries, for as much as $1.3 billion in the drugmaker’s latest move to build its pipeline in heart disease.

Eli Lilly will pay as much as $13.50 per share, the companies said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)

Lilly will pay as much as $13.50 per share, the companies said Tuesday. Verve surged 82% in trading before US exchanges opened, while Lilly dropped about 1%.

The deal gives Lilly full control of a program it was already helping to steer via a research collaboration. The two companies have been working together since 2023 on Verve’s experimental gene-editing program for reducing lipoprotein (a), a risk factor for a plaque buildup in arteries.

The experimental therapy could be the first to edit genes inside a living body that’s targeted to a broad population of patients, said Ruth Gimeno, Lilly’s vice president for diabetes and metabolic research and development.

Lilly will pay $10.50 per share in cash as well as a non-tradeable contingent value right that entitles the holder to receive as much as $3 extra per share.

The transaction will likely close in the third quarter, Lilly said.

With its sales fueled by the blockbuster obesity medicine Zepbound, Lilly has focused its recent dealmaking on experimental treatments that could power longer-term revenue growth. In January, it agreed to pay as much as $2.5 billion for a cancer drug being tested by Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. In May, it agreed to buy SiteOne Therapeutics Inc., a biotech developing pain medicines, for as much as $1 billion.

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