A roundup of news from AstraZeneca/SixPeaks, Eli Lilly and Company/SanegeneBio,and Eli Lilly and Company/MeiraGTx. Highlights below.  

M&A News 
* AstraZeneca Completes Acquisition of Obesity Drug Specialists SixPeaks 
Partnering News 
* Lilly, SanegeneBio in $1.2-Bn RNAi Drug Pact  
* Lilly, MeiraGTx in $475-M Ophthalmology Gene-Therapy Pact 

---

M&A News 

AstraZeneca Completes Acquisition of Obesity Drug Specialists SixPeaks 
AstraZeneca has completed its acquisition of SixPeaks Bio, a Basel, Switzerland-based bio/pharmaceutical company specializing in weight-loss drugs. AstraZeneca completed the acquisition by exercising a share option to acquire the remaining shares of SixPeaks it previously had not owned. AstraZeneca had taken an initial $15-million equity stake in SixPeaks in the second quarter of 2025 and paid $170 million at closing last month (October 2025), with an additional $30 million to paid two years after closing and up to a further $100 million payable on achievement of regulatory milestones. SixPeaks is investigating potential therapies for weight-management with the aim of preserving lean muscle mass. AstraZeneca reported the closing of the deal in its third-quarter earnings announcement.  

Source: AstraZeneca 

---

Partnering News 

Lilly, SanegeneBio in $1.2-Bn RNAi Drug Pact   
Eli Lilly and Company and SanegeneBio, a clinical-stage bio/pharmaceutical company, have entered an agreement under which the companies will collaborate to advance RNAi candidates for metabolic diseases, in a deal worth up to $1.2 billion. 

The candidates will be based on SanegeneBio’s tissue-selective delivery technology, LEAD (Ligand and Enhancer Assisted Delivery). SanegeneBio will be responsible for discovery and identification of the LEAD-based RNAi molecule for each program, and Lilly will be responsible for the subsequent investigational new drug-enabling studies, clinical development, and commercialization. 

Under the agreement, SanegeneBio will receive an upfront payment and equity investment and will be eligible to receive near-term milestone payments. SanegeneBio will also be eligible to receive up to $1.2 billion in discovery, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on future product sales. 

Source: SanegeneBio 

---

Lilly, MeiraGTx in $475-M Ophthalmology Gene-Therapy Pact 
Eli Lilly and Company and MeiraGTx Holdings, a clinical-stage genetic medicines company, have entered an agreement in the area of ophthalmology, in a deal worth up to $475 million ($75 million upfront and $400 million in milestone payments). 

MeiraGTx will grant Lilly worldwide exclusive rights to its adeno-sssociated virus (AAV)–aryl-hydrocarbon-interacting protein-like 1 (AIPL1) program for treatment of Leber congenital amaurosis 4 (LCA4), an inherited eye disease that causes vision loss due to genetic deficiency of AIPL1.  

Lilly will also receive worldwide exclusive access rights to MeiraGTx’s gene therapy technologies for use in ophthalmology with certain targets named by Lilly, including intravitreal capsids developed in-house at MeiraGTx and promoters, including AI-generated promoters for specific cells in the retina. MeiraGTx also grants Lilly certain rights to its proprietary riboswitch technology for use in gene editing in the eye. MeiraGTx’s riboswitch technology platform is broadly applicable to any therapeutic protein. It allows precise, titratable in-vivo production of the therapeutic protein or gene-editing nuclease from a gene template controlled by oral dosing of a small-molecule inducer. 

Under the agreement, MeiraGTx will receive an upfront payment of $75 million and will be eligible to receive over $400 million in total milestone payments. MeiraGTx is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on licensed products. 

Source: MeiraGTx