Lilly to Acquire Morphic
Summary
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is to acquire Morphic Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORF), a Waltham, MA-based biopharmaceutical company developing oral integrin therapies for treatment of serious chronic diseases. Lilly will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Morphic for a purchase price of $57 per share in cash (an aggregate of approximately $3.2 billion) payable at closing. The acquisition will enable Lilly’s immunology pipeline to expand its oral integrin therapies. Led by CEO Praveen Tipirneni, Morphic is a biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of oral integrin therapies for the treatment of serious chronic diseases, including autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases, fibrosis, and cancer. Morphic’s lead program is a selective oral small molecule inhibitor of α4β7 integrin for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that has the potential to improve outcomes and expand treatment options for patients.