Innovations Advanced by M&A: Breakthrough Treatments for Rare, Aggressive Cancers

Jul 17, 2024 | Blog Post, Innovations Advanced by M&A

This blog is another installment in a series, Innovations Advanced by M&A, that underscores the importance of mergers and acquisitions in ensuring a competitive and vibrant biopharmaceutical landscape for patients. You can find previous blogs in this series here.

Within the United States’ dynamic and highly competitive biopharmaceutical ecosystem, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) play a unique and fundamental role. By combining complementary resources and expertise among companies of all sizes – while driving investment across the ecosystem – M&A helps advance innovative new treatments and cures to patients. This was precisely the case for Retevmo and Jaypirica, two first-of-their-kind oncology treatments brought to market through the acquisition of Loxo Oncology by Eli Lilly & Co.

Loxo Oncology was founded in 2013 in Stamford, CT. A pioneer for treatments targeting rare, cancer-causing genetic mutations, Loxo’s first treatment was approved for solid tumors in 2018. By 2019, the company had added two more promising programs to its pipeline.

Aiming to advance their promising targeted therapies for rare and aggressive cancers, Loxo Oncology gained access to global resources, infrastructure and reach through their acquisition by Eli Lilly & Co. in 2019.  

“We are gratified that Lilly has recognized our contributions to the field of precision medicine and are excited to see our pipeline benefit from the resources and global reach of the Lilly organization.”

 – Josh Bilenker, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Loxo Oncology

The merger helped usher in FDA approvals for Jaypirica, indicated for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma; and Retevmo, which received Breakthrough Therapy designation for its potential to treat RET-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The approval of these innovative new treatments meant that patients with RET-positive NSCLC or mantle cell lymphoma, for whom previous treatments were not effective, could now treat or even eliminate their disease entirely.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) caused by mutations of white blood cells in the lymph nodes. Mantle cell lymphoma makes up just 6% of all NHL cases, yet is considered one of the most challenging forms to treat, as it is typically not diagnosed until later stages of disease. RET–positive NSCLC is similarly rare – comprising just 1-2% of all global lung cancer cases – and often affects younger patients with no history of smoking.

Today, Loxo continues to operate as the dedicated oncology arm of Lilly, focused on delivering life-changing treatments to patients with a variety of cancers. The combined company has since secured additional FDA approvals for Retevmo to treat thyroid cancer, RET-positive solid metastatic tumors and RET-positive metastatic thyroid cancer in children.

“The Loxo Oncology acquisition has brought talented people and new approaches to Lilly, and we are excited by what we can achieve by incorporating their discovery and development philosophy at a much larger scale.”

 – Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Eli Lilly & Co. and President, Eli Lilly Research Laboratories

The combined companies’ continued innovation in oncology treatments has created new hope for patients with rare and aggressive cancers, helping them to achieve significant improvements in both their quality of life and life expectancy.

The story of Retevmo and Jaypirica offers yet another example of the critical role that M&A plays in allowing life sciences companies to be able to combine the complementary resources, investment and expertise needed to advance new innovations. Policymakers must accordingly take a balanced and bipartisan approach to M&A enforcement and maintain this essential pathway for companies to bring new life-changing, and even lifesaving, therapies to patients in need.