Eli Lilly has agreed to acquire eye disease specialist Adverum Biotechnologies, bucking a recent trend of big pharma companies deciding to steer clear of the cell and gene therapy sector.
Eli Lilly has offered Adverum $3.56 per share in cash, including an additional $8.91 in milestone payments. The latter depends on US approval of the biotech’s lead gene therapy candidate, ixo-vec, within seven years and achieving more than $1bn in annual global sales within ten years. This brings the total consideration to $12.47 a share, valuing the deal at a possible $261.7m.
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The share offer agreed on 24 October reflects a nearly 15% discount from the $4.18 closing price on 23 October.
For Adverum, the potential buyout from Eli Lilly provides financial respite. The biotech has been struggling for cash in recent times – holding $44.4m to its name in July 2025. The lack of capital had increased jeopardy for ixo-vec, an intravitreal gene therapy that advanced into a Phase III trial (NCT06856577) for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) in March 2025.
Indeed, Eli Lilly stated that without a $65m loan given to Adverum to continue ongoing clinical trials, the biotech would only be able to finance itself through October before having to wind down operations.
Despite having to help fund ixo-vec’s development, which has been granted fast track and regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designations by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Eli Lilly could use the candidate to enter the lucrative wAMD market. The AMD sector, which also includes the dry form, is expected to reach $27.5bn across 7MM by 2031 (7MM: US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan), according to GlobalData analysis.
There is no gene therapy approved with a wAMD indication, with current treatments working via the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mechanism, such as Regeneron’s blockbuster Eylea (aflibercept). The therapy is administered every four weeks for the first five months, followed by a single injection every two months. For Eli Lilly’s soon-to-be acquired ixo-vec, this could offer patients a one-and-done treatment.
Lilly molecule discovery group vice-president Andrew Adams said: “Ixo-vec has the potential to transform wAMD treatment from a paradigm of chronic care with repeated intravitreal injections to a convenient one-time therapy.”
Adverum CEO Laurent Fischer: “[Lilly’s] scientific depth and global reach offer the opportunity to accelerate our vision to deliver a transformative one-and-done therapy that can potentially restore and preserve vision for millions of patients living with wAMD.”
Lilly bucks big pharma trend
This is not the first time in 2025 that Eli Lilly has swooped in to rescue a cash-strapped biotech specialising in gene therapies. In April, the big pharma signed a licensing deal worth up to $1.4bn for Sangamo Therapeutics’ neurology-targeting gene therapy.
However, Lilly’s recent deals, which includes a $1.3bn acquisition of RNA-based gene therapy developer Rznomics in May 2025, goes against the grain of big pharma generally opting to retreat from the cell and gene therapy sector.
Earlier this month, Galapagos wound down its cell and gene therapy division after failing to sell the unit. Japanese pharma Takeda also abandoned its cell therapy research, pivoting instead towards small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
In addition, Gilead Sciences’ Kite Pharma terminated its cell therapy collaboration with Shoreline in September 2025, ending a research partnership valued at $2.3bn.
Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva.
Editorial content is independently produced and follows the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Topic sponsors are not involved in the creation of editorial content.
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