Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DRNA) shares surged following a licensing and researching partnership with Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY).
As per the agreement, the biotech has received a $100 million payment to continue its development of cardio-metabolic disease, neurodegeneration and pain treatments.
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Dicerna could receive up to an additional $350 million per target in development and commercialization milestones.
Eli Lilly will also buy an additional $100 million equity stake in the company.
The pharmaceutical giant is particularly interested in Dicerna’s experience in RNA interference, a process that targets genetic material that builds proteins that cause disease.
RNAi-based therapeutics can be more convenient for patients via less frequent treatments and longer duration, according to Dicerna.
"We are excited to collaborate with Dicerna and utilize their RNAi expertise to study targets that up until now have proven to be very technically challenging. RNAi has the potential to treat an array of diseases that are of strategic importance to Lilly,” said Eli Lilly’s chief scientific officer Daniel M. Skovronsky in the company’s press release.
Shares of Dicerna jumped more than 21% to $15.75 in Monday pre-market trading while shares of Eli Lilly were flat.
Contact Lenore Fedow at lenore@proactiveinvestors.com
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