Eli Lilly To Buy Ajax Therapeutics To Advance AJ1-11095 Development

(RTTNews) - Eli Lilly and Company (LLY), Monday announced a deal with Ajax Therapeutics, Inc., agreeing to acquire the company along with its lead asset, AJ1-11095, an investigational, once-daily oral, first-in-class Type II JAK2 inhibitor currently being evaluated in patients with myelofibrosis.

As per the deal, Ajax shareholders would receive up to $2.3 billion in cash, inclusive of an upfront payment and subsequent payments upon the achievement of certain clinical and regulatory milestones.

"As a founding strategic investor in Ajax, Lilly has long believed in the approach and is excited about the potential for AJ1-11095 to deliver deeper and more durable efficacy than available treatments with a tolerability profile that would allow for patients to remain on therapy longer and be used across both the first- and second-line settings," said Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president and president of Lilly Oncology and head of corporate business development.

In the pre-market hours, LLY is trading at $884.65, up 0.05 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.