Gene editing for heart disease just got a major boost as Eli Lilly acquired Verve Therapeutics and its one-dose cholesterol drugs for up to $1.3B, marking a new path for Verve’s therapies to go mainstream.
- Verve’s gene editing medicines permanently silence genes responsible for CVD risk factors like the PCSK9 gene.
- The move isn’t that surprising considering that Lilly paid $250M for the opt-in rights to three of Verve’s gene-editing programs and another $60M to help co-develop its Lp(a) program.
- The acquisition marks big pharma’s first major expansion into the realm of CV gene-editing, as it’s been mostly dominated by smaller experimental firms to date.
Part of the acquisition likely stems from Verve’s recent impressive trial results for its PCSK9-blocking treatment, VERVE-102, which lowered LDL-C by an average of 53% and a maximum of 69%.
- Importantly, VERVE-102 showed no safety concerns, which was a critical improvement over its earlier iteration, VERVE-101.
- VERVE-101 reduced LDL-C by up to 84% but led to a patient dying of cardiac arrest and other complications.
With the favorable trial data backing VERVE-102, Eli Lilly likely wanted greater control over later-stage clinical development and taking the therapy to market since it’s flush with cash following its success with tirzepatide in the GLP-1/GIP race.
The biggest hurdle down the road for Lilly is whether or not patients and doctors will embrace gene-editing medicines for CVD when more traditional treatment options are available even if it succeeds in the regulatory gauntlet.
- For example, Amgen’s Repatha and Regeneron’s Praluent PCSK9 inhibitors are already available and don’t permanently edit DNA.
- Adding to the potential competition, AstraZeneca and Merck are currently working on oral PCSK9 inhibitors.
- Verve believes its therapies will overcome this because they’re a one time infusion unlike the complicated administration process of Vertex’s Casgevy for sickle-cell anemia.
The Takeaway
It seems like Lilly firmly believes Verve’s therapies “could shift the treatment paradigm for cardiovascular disease from chronic care to one-and-done treatment” which would be both lucrative and complimentary for the pharma giant. The ultimate question for Lilly now comes down to if patients will trade a permanent change to their DNA for lower LDL-C.
