Eli Lilly and Co. tapped Lycia Therapeutics Inc. in a potential $1.6 billion-plus protein-degradation deal that brings $35 million up front and the remainder in would-be preclinical, development and commercial milestone payments, along with mid-single to low double-digit royalties. The multiyear research tie-up and licensing agreement strives to discover, develop and commercialize targeted therapeutics based on Lycia's lysosomal targeting chimera, or Lytac, technology.
DUBLIN – Lycia Therapeutics Inc. raised $50 million in series A funding from founding investor Versant Ventures to take forward yet another novel concept in targeted protein degradation. The new company, which will be headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, is building on the work of Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry at Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator, who has invented bifunctional structures called Lytacs – lysosomal targeting chimeras – which target extracellular or circulating proteins for internalization and lysosomal degradation by tethering them to lysosome targeting receptors at the cell surface.