Eli Lilly and Company has agreed to acquire Morphic, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based bio/pharmaceutical company developing oral integrin therapies for treating chronic diseases, for $3.2 billion.

Morphic’s lead program is Morf-057, an oral drug for treating inflammatory bowel disease. It is being evaluated in two Phase II studies in ulcerative colitis and one Phase II study in Crohn’s disease. Additionally, Morphic is developing a preclinical pipeline of other molecules for treating autoimmune diseases, pulmonary hypertensive diseases, fibrotic diseases, and cancer.

Lilly will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Morphic for a purchase price of $57 per share in cash (an aggregate of approximately $3.2 billion), payable at closing. The transaction has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.

The transaction is not subject to any financing condition and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender of a majority of the outstanding shares of Morphic’s common stock. Following the successful closing of the tender offer, Lilly will acquire any shares of Morphic that are not tendered in the tender offer through a second-step merger at the same consideration as paid in the tender offer.

Source: Eli Lilly and Company