Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
A preclinical bet dressed as a platform play: Eli Lilly is paying HAYA Therapeutics up to $1 billion to mine long non-coding RNA targets for obesity, extending its franchise beyond tirzepatide, though the deal is still discovery-stage with no drug candidate yet.
Outcome grade pending — assessed 5 years post-close.
Full analysis, sources & comparables →Lilly and HAYA Therapeutics ink a potential $1 billion drug discovery deal to target obesity and metabolic conditions. The multi-year collaboration applies…
Lilly and HAYA will collaborate to find genome targets for obesity using HAYA's full-stack regulatory genome platform to identify tissue-, disease- and…
Wilson Sonsini advised HAYA Therapeutics on patent matters related to its multi-year collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to discover novel regulatory…
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HAYA Therapeutics announced multi-year collaboration with Eli Lilly applying HAYA's regulatory genome RNA platform to preclinical obesity and metabolic drug discovery. HAYA receives upfront + equity investment and is eligible for up to $1B in preclinical, clinical, and commercial milestones plus royalties.
108M US cases/yr · $45.0B Global GLP-1/incretin T2D + obesity class 2024 branded sales (~$45B+) · 1000 Total biobucks milestone potential (USD MM, pre-clin/clin/commercial) per HAYA-Lilly deal
Obesity is a chronic, multifactorial metabolic disease characterized by excess adiposity that drives cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH), obstructive sleep apnea, and multiple cancers. Per CDC NHANES 2017-March 2020, 41.9% of US adults - roughly 108 million people - have obesity (BMI >= 30), with another ~30% classified as overweight. The class is dominated by GLP-1 receptor agonists and dual/triple incretin agents that have redefined weight-management economics: Novo Nordisk's semaglutide (Wegovy obesity label, Ozempic T2D) and Eli Lilly's tirzepatide (Zepbound obesity, Mounjaro T2D) collectively generated well over $40B in 2024 branded sales across T2D and obesity, with Lilly reporting Zepbound + Mounjaro 2024 sales exceeding $20B. Despite spectacular commercial success, roughly 15-20% of patients discontinue GLP-1s within a year due to GI tolerability, injection burden, weight regain on discontinuation, and muscle-mass loss concerns, and payer access remains contested. This creates a durable discovery white space for next-generation metabolic targets - oral small molecules, amylin analogs, muscle-preserving co-agents, and novel tissue-specific regulators like long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) - which is the scientific thesis underpinning the Lilly-HAYA collaboration in the regulatory genome.
The obesity and metabolic landscape is dominated by peptide incretin agonists with deep pipelines extending into oral and fixed-dose combinations. Injectable GLP-1 / GIP: semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic/Rybelsus, Novo Nordisk), tirzepatide (Zepbound/Mounjaro, Eli Lilly - dual GIP/GLP-1), liraglutide (Saxenda/Victoza, Novo Nordisk, generics entering). Next-wave peptides: retatrutide (triple GIP/GLP-1/glucagon, Lilly, Phase 3), CagriSema (cagrilintide + semaglutide, Novo Nordisk, Phase 3), survodutide (GLP-1/glucagon, Boehringer/Zealand), mazdutide (GLP-1/glucagon, Innovent/Lilly). Oral small molecules: orforglipron (Lilly, Phase 3 oral GLP-1), danuglipron (Pfizer, discontinued 2025), VK2735 (Viking Therapeutics). Amylin class: cagrilintide monotherapy (Novo Nordisk), petrelintide (Zealand/Roche). Emerging mechanisms beyond incretins - muscle-sparing myostatin/activin modulators (bimagrumab, Lilly), tissue-specific lncRNA-directed RNA therapeutics (HAYA-Lilly platform collaboration), and AMPK/mitochondrial uncouplers - represent the white space Lilly is buying optionality into with the $1B HAYA biobucks deal.
On May 8, 2025 HAYA Therapeutics closed a $65M Series A led by Sofinnova Partners and Earlybird Venture Capital, with Eli Lilly participating as an investor — realizing the equity-investment component flagged in the Sept 2024 collaboration. Proceeds advance HAYA's wholly-owned lncRNA lead HTX-001 (non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) into the clinic; the Lilly obesity collaboration remains active and preclinical, with up to $1B in milestones intact.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly and Company / HAYA Therapeutics SA (this deal) | 2024 | $1.0B | — |
| Eli Lilly and Company / Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH | 2011 | $444M | 89 |
| Eli Lilly and Company / Loxo Oncology, Inc. | 2019 | $8.0B | 88 |
| Eli Lilly and Company / Applied Molecular Evolution Inc. | 2003 | $400M | 88 |
| Eli Lilly and Company / ICOS Corporation | 2006 | $2.3B | 87 |
| Eli Lilly and Company / Novartis Animal Health | 2014 | $5.4B | 70 |
| Eli Lilly and Company / Incyte Corporation | 2009 | $755M | 69 |
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