Eli Lilly’s idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis deal with Mediar is centered around MTX-463, an anti-WISP1 antibody that early studies have found to be safe and capable of engaging its target.
Eli Lilly on Friday entered into a global licensing deal with Mediar Therapeutics, aiming to develop a first-in-class therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
The back-heavy deal will see Lilly hand over $99 million in upfront payment and near-term milestones, according to a Mediar news release, while the Boston biotech will be eligible to up to $687 million in downstream development and commercialization milestones. Mediar will also be able to receive high-single to low-double-digit royalties on future potential net sales.
At the core of the deal is MTX-463, a potentially first-in-class human IgG1 antibody that targets and neutralizes the WNT1-inducible signaling pathway protein-1 (WISP1). Typically excreted into the extracellular environment, WISP1 plays a central role in the progression of fibrosis and is typically associated with the severity of fibrotic diseases.
According to Mediar, early data from in vitro and mouse models suggest that inhibiting WISP-1 signaling could lower fibrosis. The biotech has recently completed a Phase I study of MTX-463 in healthy volunteers, demonstrating that the candidate could reliably engage WISP1—thereby interfering with its downstream signaling—while having an encouraging tolerability profile.
Under Friday’s collaboration, Lilly and Mediar will push MTX-463 into Phase II development to test the antibody’s potential as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a respiratory illness characterized by scarring in the lungs, leading to breathing difficulties. The partners plan to launch the mid-stage study, led by Mediar, in the first half of 2025.
After Phase II, Lilly will assume responsibility over all further clinical development and commercialization activities for MTX-463.
Outside of MTX-463, Mediar will continue to independently develop its two other fibrosis programs, including the anti-EphrinB2 antibody MTX-474 and a SMOC2 program, for which it expects to nominate a candidate in the first half of this year.
The Lilly-Mediar partnership is likely to shake up the competitive IPF space, which just months ago saw a pair of promising clinical readouts. In September 2024, Boehringer Ingelheim announced that its Phase III FIBRONEER-IPF study met its primary endpoint, showing that the investigational drug nerandomilast improves lung function in patients. At the time, the company announced that it planned to use FIBRONEER-IPF to support a drug application for nerandomilast.
Days later, Insilico Medicine disclosed that its potential first-in-class small molecule drug ISM001-055 also cleared Phase IIa, with data showing that the anti-TNIK candidate elicited dose-dependent improvements in lung function.
