Lilly Looks To Take POINT On Emerging Cancer Radiopharmaceutical Space

Eli Lilly and Company continued a year of strategic bolt-on acquisitions on 3 October with the planned buyout of the radiopharmaceutical company POINT Biopharma Global Inc., with a tender offer that it expects to total approximately $1.4bn. The deal marks Lilly’s move into radioligand therapies for cancer, and Point’s early-stage pipeline and its isotope supply chain seems to have driven it, as it has already out-licensed a pair of late-stage radiopharmaceutical candidates that it is positioning to compete with Novartis AG’s Lutathera and Pluvicto.

In its statement on the deal, Lilly compared the transaction to previous moves to further its pipeline and capabilities in small molecule and biologic therapies for cancer, noting that in recent years, “well-designed” radiopharmaceuticals have been integrated into the standard of care and brought meaningful benefits to cancer patients