Sosei Heptares and Lilly Enter Multi-target Collaboration and License Agreement in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases

• New agreement leverages Sosei Heptares’ GPCR-focused structure-based drug design capabilities and Lilly’s extensive development, commercialization and therapeutic area expertise
• Sosei Heptares eligible to receive US$37 million upfront in cash and further development and commercial milestone payments totalling up to US$694 million plus tiered royalties

TOKYO and CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Dec. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sosei Group Corporation (“the Company”; TSE: 4565) announces it has entered a drug discovery collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”), a global biopharmaceutical company, to discover, develop and commercialize small molecules that modulate novel G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets associated with diabetes and metabolic diseases.

This new agreement will leverage Sosei Heptares’ StaR^® technology and structure-based drug design (SBDD) platform and Lilly’s extensive drug development and commercialization expertise as well as its therapeutic area expertise in diabetes and metabolic diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sosei Heptares will focus its efforts on multiple GPCR targets nominated by Lilly to deliver novel target-selective small molecule hit candidates for further development and commercialization.

Sosei Heptares receives an upfront payment of US$37 million on signing and is eligible to receive development and commercial milestones totalling up to US$694 million, plus tiered royalties on global sales.

Matt Barnes, Ph.D. Head of UK Research & Development, Sosei Heptares said: “This new agreement with Lilly further reinforces our position as a global partner of choice for GPCR-focused drug discovery targeting major diseases where patients remain in need of new and effective therapies. We provide a highly attractive approach that is recognized by many of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies and are delighted to add Lilly to that list. Lilly is a recognized world leader in diabetes and metabolic diseases, and we look forward to a collaboration that brings together our respective and complementary expertise with the goal of identifying and developing novel candidates to advance in these important areas of unmet need.”

Ruth Gimeno, Ph.D., Group Vice President, Diabetes and Metabolic Research, Lilly said: “Continued innovation across Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases has been a key priority for Lilly for many years. This requires us to access cutting-edge expertise and technologies to successfully advance our mission in this area. We look forward to combining forces with Sosei Heptares and are confident that this new partnership will enable us to unlock new targets and generate novel treatments for these diseases and bring new treatments to patients.”

About Sosei Heptares

We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR^® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology, and inflammatory diseases.

We have established partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging technology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Kallyope, Lilly, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and Verily. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

“Sosei Heptares” is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR^® are trademarks of Sosei Group companies.

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Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporation’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.