Lilly to acquire CoLucid for $960 million

Deal will enhance Lilly's existing pain management portfolio for migraine and adds potential near-term launch to its late-stage pipeline.

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals is a public biopharmaceutical company developing an oral 5-HT1F agonist (lasmiditan) for the acute treatment of migraine. CoLucid has completed the first of two pivotal Phase III trials. A data read-out for the second Phase III trial, SPARTAN, is expected in the second half of 2017. If this trial is positive, submission of lasmiditan for US regulatory approval could occur in 2018.

More than 36 million people suffer from migraine in the US alone. Lasmiditan, if approved, would be a first-in-class therapy to treat migraine through a novel mechanism of action without vasoconstriction. This could be desirable in migraine patients who have, or are at risk of, cardiovascular disease, as well as those who are dissatisfied with their current therapies.

Lasmiditan is an important addition to Lilly's emerging pain management pipeline, which includes galcanezumab, a potential medicine in Phase 3 clinical development for the prevention of migraine and cluster headache. In addition, tanezumab is being studied, in collaboration with Pfizer, for the treatment of multiple pain indications, including osteoarthritis, lower back and cancer pain.

"Lasmiditan is a novel, first-in-class molecule that could represent the first significant innovation for the acute treatment of migraine in more than 20 years, and CoLucid has made significant progress in advancing this potential medicine," said David A. Ricks, Lilly's president and CEO. "This innovation, along with galcanezumab, could offer important options for the millions of patients suffering from migraine."

Lasmiditan was originally discovered at Lilly and was out-licensed to CoLucid in 2005. Over the past 12 years, CoLucid has taken important steps to decrease the risk related to development and commercialization of lasmiditan as evident by the first positive Phase III trial. At the time lasmiditan was out-licensed, pain management was not a strategic area of focus for Lilly. Lilly has since re-organized its research and development efforts to focus on migraine as part of its emerging therapeutic area of pain.

"We are excited that lasmiditan will be back at Lilly, where it was originally discovered, for the conclusion of Phase III development and potential commercialization," said Thomas P. Mathers, CoLucid's CEO. "We are proud of the work that CoLucid has done to develop lasmiditan, and we believe Lilly's expertise in pain and commitment to innovation are a natural fit to potentially bring this medicine to patients."