Lilly launches a genetic medicine research center in Boston

Eli Lilly and Company plans to significantly increase its research into genetic medicines with a new research operation in Boston.

The company says it will to spend $700 million to establish the Lilly Institute for Genetic Medicine at a 12-story facility leased from Alexandria Real Estate Equities in the Boston Seaport district. It expects to occupy the building in 2024.

Lilly began working in genetic medicines in 2018 when it entered a collaboration with Dicerna Pharmaceuticals to develop gene-silencing therapies for cardiometabolic disease. The company ramped up its activity in 2020 when it bought Prevail Therapeutics, a gene-therapy pioneer based in New York City, for approximately $800 million. Earlier this year, Lilly acquired the rights to Entos Pharmaceuticals’ nucleic acid delivery technology for $50 million.

Lilly expects staff at the Boston facility to grow from 120 to more than 250 biologists, chemists, data scientists, and other genetic medicine specialists over 5years. Staff at the New York research center, which continues to operate as Prevail, is expected to grow to about 200 scientists.

The new center “reaffirms Lilly’s commitment” to RNA and DNA-based medicines, says Andrew C. Adams, vice president of genetic medicine at Lilly and codirector with Prevail CEO Franz Hefti of the Boston venture. “We think RNA and DNA is one of the future directions that medicine is going to go in. Hopefully it will get to the point where we have really elegant once-and-done medicines for diseases like Alzheimer’s where today’s medicines are not giving patients the kind of therapies we would like to.”

The clinical success of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in COVID-19 vaccines has energized an already fast-growing field of research. Firms including Pfizer and Bayer are well advanced, and others are making large investments in genetic medicine.

Last year Sanofi acquired Translate Bio, an mRNA specialist working on therapies for influenza and cystic fibrosis. Sanofi also announced it would invest $477 million annually in an mRNA vaccine development program.

According to Lilly, genetic medicines make up 20% of its research portfolio in diabetes, immunology, and central nervous system disorders including candidates developed internally and through partnerships. Adams says Lilly will distinguish itself by applying the technology in its core research areas, including Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

Daniel Chancellor, a director at the market intelligence firm Informa Pharma Intelligence, says Lilly is a latecomer to genetic medicine. “Other companies in the peer group have late-stage or marketed drugs that use RNA technology,” he says.

Lilly has taken a traditional partnership route in genetic medicine so far, Chancellor says. He adds that the company brought a research platform onboard with the purchase of Prevail, which has a dementia therapy in Phase 1/2 studies. But other companies with their own platforms are ahead in developing their pipelines, he says. “Lilly’s foray so far is pretty limited,” Chancellor says.

One area where Lilly may have a leg up, Chancellor says, is in Alzheimer’s disease, where it is turning to RNA to develop a protein-based anti-tau therapeutic. Lilly’s RNA approach differentiates from others working in the arena, but it is a long way from producing clinical data, he cautions.

A recent survey by Informa found about 800 RNA-based drugs in company pipelines. About 200 are in clinical trials—about a third the level of activity for gene therapy drug candidates.

Adams says Lilly intends to gain traction in genetic medicines through further investment focused on new technologies. “You are going to see a lot of different deals from us moving forward,” he says. “You will see acquisitions and partnerships. And you should expect to hear more from us on the clinical application of some of these ideas over the next couple of years.”