Pharmaceutical Technology

Eli Lilly targets Scorpion Therapeutics to expand reach in oncology

After selling its PI3Kα program to Eli Lilly, Scorpion will spinout out a different entity, which will be owned by the biotech’s current shareholders.

Eli Lilly will buy Boston biotech Scorpion Therapeutics’ PI3Kα inhibitor for upto $2.5bn in cash, with the latter splitting away to form a new entity with its remaining assets.

Lilly’s bid to acquire Scorpion was driven by the Scorpion’s PI3Kα inhibitor program that is centered on the drug STX-478. The drug is in clinical studies evaluating its potential in solid tumours and breast cancer in particular. As per the company, STX-478 could avoid affecting healthy human cells and selectively target cancer cells, paving the way for better tolerability.

As per the deal terms outlined in a 13 January announcement, the new spinout company with its non-PI3Kα assets will be owned by Scorpion’s existing shareholders and Lilly will hold a minority equity stake in it. The news was announced amid a steady trickle of deals announced in the last few days, including one involving another oncology biotech—that of the Johnson and Johnson acquiring Intracellular Therapies. Pharma and biotech investors are expected to engage in rapid deal making in the next few days at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference 2025, which started today [13 January].

Eli Lilly already has market share in the breast cancer space with the approved drug Verzenio (abemaciclib), and is advancing investigational drugs like the oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) imlunestrant.

With its latest acquisition, Lilly will carve out a spot in the PI3K inhibitors space in breast cancer, which for long was dominated by Novartis’ Piqray (alpelisib). In October 2024, Roche had a significant win with the approval of its PI3K inhibitor Itovebi (inavolisib) in combination with Pfizer’s Ibrance (palbociclib) and AstraZeneca’s Faslodex (fulvestrant) as the first-line treatment for certain breast cancer patients. The drug is expected to yield 1.3bn in revenues as early as 2030, as per a consensus forecast by GlobalData, the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.

PI3K inhibitors are directed toward the subset of breast cancer that are hormone receptor (HR)+.

Oncology is expected to be a key area of development in 2025 having been the top therapy area with an estimated CAGR of $232,271 bn in 2024, as per GlobalData’s State of the Biopharmaceutical Industry report. Oncology trials will outnumber CNS and cardiovascular trials, with the most planned clinical trials for 2025 are for solid tumours, followed by pain, as per the report.