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Investing.com-- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is in advanced talks to buy gene editing start-up Verve Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VERV), the Financial Times reported on Monday, as the world’s biggest drugmaker seeks to increase its pipeline of experimental drugs.
Verve’s shares shot up after the report, surging nearly 73% to $10.76 in aftermarket trade.
Eli Lilly will pay up to $1.3 billion for the deal, with $1 billion upfront and $300 million based on Verve achieving certain performance milestones, the FT report said, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The deal values Verve at roughly twice its current market capitalization, which was just over $500 million as of Monday’s close. The deal is aimed chiefly at folding Verve’s gene editing technology into Eli Lilly’s pipeline.
Eli Lilly has been on an acquisition spree this year, having earlier purchased cancer biotech firm Scorpion Therapeutics for $2.5 billion, and SiteOne Therapeutics for $1 billion.
The company has largely defied headwinds faced by its peers on the strength of its diabetes and weight loss medicines Mounjaro and Zepbound.