Eli Lilly acquires CoLucid Pharmaceuticals for $960m

Eli Lilly and Company has completed its previously announced acquisition of US-based CoLucid Pharmaceuticals for approximately $960m.

The acquisition was announced in January this year and will enable Eli Lilly to improve its existing portfolio in pain management for migraine.

Eli Lilly and Company president and CEO David Ricks said: "We are pleased to announce the completion of our acquisition of CoLucid, which will enhance Lilly's existing pain management portfolio and add a potential near-term launch to our late-stage pipeline.

"More than 36 million people suffer from migraines in the US alone, and lasmiditan could represent the first significant innovation for its acute treatment in more than 20 years."

Upon completion of the merger, CoLucid became a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly.

"More than 36 million people suffer from migraines in the US alone, and lasmiditan could represent the first significant innovation for its acute treatment in more than 20 years."

CoLucid is developing lasmiditan oral tablets for the acute treatment of migraine in adults and intravenous lasmiditan to treat headache pain associated with migraine in adults.

Lasmiditan is expected to be a first-in-class therapy to treat migraine through a new mechanism of action without vasoconstriction, if approved.

This tablet will be a key addition to Lilly's emerging pain management pipeline, which includes galcanezumab, a potential medicine that is currently in Phase III clinical development to prevent migraine and cluster headache.

Originally Lasmiditan was discovered at Lilly and was out-licensed in 2005 to CoLucid, which has taken important steps to decrease the risk related to its development and commercialisation over the past 12 years. When it was out-licensed, pain management was not a strategic area of focus for Lilly.