Lilly has agreed to pay $22.50 per share in cash, equivalent to about $880 million, as well as a $4 contingent value right (CVR), which is payable upon the first regulatory approval of a Prevail product. Prevail’s board of directors have unanimously recommended acceptance of the offer.

The New York-headquartered biotech’s lead gene therapies currently in clinical development are PR001 for patients with Parkinson's disease with GBA1 mutations (PD-GBA) and neuronopathic Gaucher disease (nGD), and PR006 for patients with frontotemporal dementia with GRN mutations (FTD-GRN).

The US Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track Designation for PR001 for treating PD-GBA and nGD, as well as for PR006 as a therapy for FTD-GRN. 

Prevail’s preclinical pipeline includes PR004 for patients with specific synucleinopathies, as well as potential gene therapies for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neurodegenerative disorders.

For the CVR to pay out, Prevail must have gained regulatory approval by Dec. 31, 2024 for the commercial sale of a product in either the US, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Italy or Spain.

"Gene therapy is a promising approach with the potential to deliver transformative treatments for patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Gaucher and dementia," said Mark Mintun, vice president of pain and neurodegeneration research at Lilly. "The acquisition of Prevail will bring critical technology and highly skilled teams to complement our existing expertise at Lilly, as we build a new gene therapy program anchored by well-researched assets.”

Prevail’s founder and CEO Asa Abeliovich added that given its global scale and resources, Lilly is the “ideal organization to maximize the potential of our pipeline and accelerate our ability to bring these therapies to as many patients as possible.”

The acquisition is set to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to the usual conditions.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist