QurAlis Corp Forays Into Agreement with Eli Lilly To Develop QRL-204

QurAlis Enterprise (QurAlis) reported that it has gone into a exclusive license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) in which QurAlis is conceding Lilly worldwide privileges to create and popularize QRL-204, a possibly top tier splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) intended to reestablish UNC13A capability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and other neurodegenerative illnesses.

In exchange for an upfront payment of $45 million and an additional equity investment, QurAlis granted Lilly a worldwide exclusive license to develop and market QRL-204 and other UNC13A-targeting compounds. QurAlis is also eligible for tiered royalties on net sales and future milestone payments of up to $577 million.

The partnership incorporates a research and development (R&D) joint effort to distinguish and foster extra competitors focusing on UNC13A, utilizing QurAlis' exclusive FlexASO Splice Modulator Stage. The QurAlis FlexASO Join Modulator Stage was created to produce graft exchanging ASOs with further developed power and expanded therapeutic index.

“We are determined at Lilly to uncover the next great idea, the next collaboration, the next advancement in technology that will drive us toward meaningful treatments for ALS and FTD patients. It’s all for one reason – to make life better for even more people,” said Andrew Adams, senior vice president, neurodegeneration research, and director, Lilly Institute for Genetic Medicine. “Genetic precision medicines like QRL-204 that target specific causal components of disease pathology hold great promise for delivering meaningful advances against a range of neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and FTD. We look forward to collaborating with QurAlis to identify and develop additional next-generation candidates targeting UNC13A."