Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) has teamed up with HAYA Therapeutics to deploy HAYA’s RNA-guided regulatory genome platform for preclinical drug discovery in obesity and metabolic conditions.
HAYA is a biotechnology company developing precision RNA-guided regulatory genome-targeting therapeutics for chronic diseases.
Its in-house regulatory genome discovery platform enables the identification of tissue-, disease- and cell-specific long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) targets.
The platform also supports the development of RNA-targeting therapies, with enhanced efficacy and lower toxicity than current treatments, to reprogram disease-driving cell states.
Under the partnership, the two companies will identify multiple regulatory genome-derived RNA-based drug targets to address chronic conditions.
HAYA will receive an upfront payment and equity investment and is eligible to receive up to $1bn in milestone payments, along with royalties on product sales.
Lilly will use HAYA’s regulatory genome platform to identify, characterise and validate novel lncRNA targets to develop new treatments for obesity and related metabolic disorders.
HAYA Therapeutics CEO Samir Ounzain said: “This partnership with Lilly demonstrates the significant advances we have made with our revolutionary regulatory genome RNA-guided platform and validates the potential of targeting lncRNA for chronic conditions.
“We look forward to working closely with Lilly, an established leader in developing treatments for metabolic diseases, to help bring patients novel disease-modifying therapeutics that could offer greater efficacy, safety and accessibility than currently available treatments.”
In a separate development, Lilly and EVA Pharma have agreed to expand access to baricitinib to an estimated 20,000 people in 49 low- to middle-income countries in Africa by 2030.
Discovered by Incyte and licensed to Lilly, baricitinib is intended for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia areata, atopic dermatitis, and Covid-19.
The collaboration is part of the Lilly 30×30 initiative, which aims to improve access to quality health care for 30 million people living in resource-limited settings annually by 2030.
Lilly International executive vice president and president Ilya Yuffa said: “Our commitment to expanding access to affordable and innovative medicines for people living in low- to middle-income countries continues.
“Following our collaboration with EVA Pharma on insulin manufacturing, we are now establishing the first of its kind voluntary licensing agreement for Lilly, where the company will provide certain baricitinib manufacturing know-how to enable EVA Pharma to manufacture and supply baricitinib to people in 49 countries across Africa.”
EVA Pharma is set to begin sales of baricitinib, locally manufactured at its dedicated high-containment facility, to various African countries, in 2026.
The collaboration builds on both EVA’s pan-African reach and local manufacturing capabilities, enabling Lilly to reach more people in low- to middle-income countries.
Furthermore, Lilly and EVA have been collaborating since 2022, to expand access to affordable insulin in 56 countries, most of which are low- to middle-income.
EVA Pharma CEO Riad Armanious said: “We are proud to localize the entire value chain of this critical medication on the continent, from producing high-potency baricitinib active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to tackling complex manufacturing challenges.”
