Lilly acquires TB drug candidates
09 Oct 2008
Eli Lilly has acquired new compounds for further development into tuberculosis (TB) drug candidates.
The drugs giant's TB Drug Discovery Initiative division revealed it had reached agreements with Summit, a firm based in the UK, and the Microbial Chemistry Research Foundation based in Japan, for two compounds which it said had "shown potential in initial testing".
Lilly has just opened new laboratories which are to focus on early drug discovery for TB.
"People think of TB as a disease of the past, but with extensive spread of resistance to current drugs and without rapid development of new drugs, TB will be a disease of the future everywhere," said Dr Paul Farmer, who sits on the Initiative's board of advisors.
Eli Lilly recently announced it had reached an agreement to acquire ImClone Systems in a deal worth $6.5 billion (£3.7 billion).
The firm revealed that ImClone's board is recommending shareholders tender their shares – with Lilly stating the merger will create "one of the leading oncology franchises in the biopharmaceutical industry".