Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company will purchase four-year-old Disarm Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based biotechnology company, for $135 million up front.  Investors reportedly could receive an additional $1.225 billion depending on the success of Lilly’s development and commercialization efforts relating to the new drugs resulting from the deal.

Disarm has reportedly developed certain drug therapies for  axonal degeneration, a common feature of many neurological disorders. The development included the discovery of a protein that causes axonal degeneration and molecules known as SARM1 inhibitors which the developers believe can address axonal degeneration. Diseases targeted for the therapies include multiple sclerosis and ALS.

Disarm was reportedly founded by Atlas Venture, Atlas Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Dr. Rajesh Devraj and Dr. Raul Krauss, Drs. DiAntonio and Milbrandt of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. AbbVie Ventures and Lightstone Ventures co-invested with Atlas to support the foundational work at Disarm.

Related articles: STAT News   The Financial  Fierce Biotech

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Photo of Dan Shores Dan Shores

Dan Shores is a Partner at Rothwell Figg and is a founder of its Boston office. He is passionate about helping his clients build robust patent portfolios, litigate matters (both as plaintiffs and defendants in the U.S. District Courts and in IPR and…

Dan Shores is a Partner at Rothwell Figg and is a founder of its Boston office. He is passionate about helping his clients build robust patent portfolios, litigate matters (both as plaintiffs and defendants in the U.S. District Courts and in IPR and other post-grant proceedings), protect trade secrets, negotiate strategic collaborations, conduct due diligence and landscape investigations, and prepare for success in funding rounds and exits. Dan is a problem-solver who excels at deciphering key translational aspects of a broad array of technologies to maximize leverage in the context of clients’ desired implementation of such technologies whether as participants in dynamic markets or as first movers. Dan is a registered patent attorney licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and in the District of Columbia. He is a member of the bars of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Dan lives in Boston with his wife Lindsay, their daughter Audrey, and their two English Bulldogs Jarves and Rosie.