Eli Lilly Buys License to Isis’ Lung Cancer Drug

Eli Lilly & Co. licensed Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s experimental lung cancer drug and will pay the biotechnology company more than $200 million over four years.

Isis shares rose $4.81, or 48%, to $14.89 on Nasdaq. Shares of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Isis had slipped 5.1% this year, while the Amex biotechnology index fell 23%.

The Isis drug could be an advance in lung cancer treatment, which now most often entails surgery. Isis developed the drug by looking closely at how cells function in health and disease. A similar approach, using antibodies, led to the late 1990s’ introduction of cancer medicines with fewer side effects such as Genentech Inc.’s Herceptin.

“I would loosely compare [the Isis drug] to where we were with antibodies a decade ago,” said Vincent Miller, a lung cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. “Isis still has a long way to go [with testing], but what’s exciting is that Lilly bought this. That suggests that there really might be something to it.”

Lilly said it might file for U.S. approval of the drug in 2003 if regulators accept results of one study. If more research is needed, the filing might be made in 2004, said Terra Fox, a Lilly spokeswoman.

Isis developed the drug, called Isis 3521, with what it calls antisense technology. This involves finding ways to stop messenger RNA to prevent production of proteins related to cancer.

Genta Inc., another biotechnology company, also has used antisense technology to develop experimental cancer drugs. Its most advanced drug has been in the final stage of testing for about a year in patients with advanced skin cancer. Shares of Berkeley Heights, N.J.-based Genta rose $2.10 to $10 on Nasdaq.

Lilly also intends to study the Isis drug in combination with its own cancer drug, Gemzar, Fox said. Lilly and Isis also will work together on research for drugs for metabolic and inflammatory disease.

The agreement is subject to review by the Federal Trade Commission, the companies said.

Shares of Indianapolis-based Lilly rose $1.03 to $81.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Booster Shot

News that Eli Lilly & Co. licensed an experimental cancer drug from Isis Pharmaceuticals sent shares of the Carlsbad, Calif., biotech firm sharply up Wednesday.

Isis shares, weekly closes and latest on Nasdaq

Wednesday: $14.89, up $4.81

Source: Bloomberg News