HQ Team
June 20, 2023: Eli Lilly and Company will acquire Dice Therapeutics for $2.4 billion to expand its immunology business, according to an online statement.
Dice is a US biopharmaceutical company that makes oral medicines against biologically validated targets in immunology for the treatment of chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Lilly has offered to acquire all outstanding shares of Dice for a purchase price of $48 per share in cash. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023. Following the successful closing of the tender offer, Lilly will acquire any shares of Dice that are not tendered in the tender offer through a second-step merger at the same consideration as paid in the tender offer.
40% premium
The purchase price payable at closing represents a premium of approximately 40% to the 30-day volume-weighted average trading price of DICE’s common stock ended on June 16, 2023, the last trading day before the announcement of the transaction.
Dice leverages its proprietary Delscape technology platform to develop oral therapeutic candidates, including oral IL-17 inhibitors currently in clinical development, to treat chronic diseases in immunology.
It is also developing oral therapeutic candidates for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
“In combination with its novel technology and expertise in drug discovery, DICE’s talented workforce and passion for innovation will enhance our efforts to make life better for people living with devastating autoimmune diseases,” said Patrik Jonsson, executive vice president at Eli Lilly.
Oral IL-17 inhibitors
Kevin Judice, CEO of Dice said: ”We’re eager to see our pipeline, including our oral IL-17 inhibitors, DC-806 and DC-853, benefit from Lilly’s resources and global reach.”
Autoimmune diseases are a family of more than 80 chronic, often debilitating, and, in some cases, life-threatening illnesses. According to the National Institutes of Health, up to 23.5 million Americans (more than seven percent of the population) suffer from an autoimmune disease—and the prevalence is rising.
The prevalence of autoimmune diseases is between three percent and eight percent worldwide and between 78% to 85% of them are women. Multiple sclerosis, as an autoimmune disease, has also a higher prevalence in women than men, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Other autoimmune diseases, including Graves’ disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, Addison’s disease, type 1 diabetes mellitus, alopecia areata, celiac disease, pernicious anemia, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, and Sjogren’s syndrome.
The most fatal autoimmune diseases include giant cell myocarditis, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, mixed connective tissue disease, and autoimmune vasculitis.
