Eli Lilly to acquire Morphic for $3.2 billion

Eli Lilly said Monday it will acquire Morphic Holding, a biotech developing a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease.

Lilly will pay about $3.2 billion to buy the Waltham, Mass.-based company. That translates to $57 per share, a premium of roughly 79% from Morphic’s Friday closing price.

Morphic’s lead candidate, MORF-057, is an oral small molecule that blocks α4β7 integrin. It’s being studied in two Phase 2 trials for ulcerative colitis and one Phase 2 trial for Crohn’s disease. The company also has a preclinical pipeline of medications for other chronic conditions, including autoimmune diseases, pulmonary hypertensive diseases, fibrotic diseases, and cancer.

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