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Creyon Bio and Lilly Enter into RNA-Targeted Oligo Therapy Development Collaboration

via Business Wire

AI-designed oligos with goal of making therapies safer and more effective for patients with rare and common diseases

Creyon Bio, Inc. (“Creyon”) today announced a global licensing and multi-target research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”) focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel RNA-targeted oligonucleotide (oligo) therapies for a broad range of diseases. As a part of the collaboration, Creyon will leverage its industry-first AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine to design and optimize new drug candidates for Lilly’s named targets on time scales not previously achievable in nucleic acid drug development.

“We are pleased to partner with Lilly to advance our AI-designed oligos with the goal of making therapies safer and more effective for patients. This partnership marks an important milestone for Creyon as we work to advance our RNA-targeted oligo therapy pipeline to the clinic for both rare and common diseases,” said Serge Messerlian, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Creyon Bio.

“Creyon has built an industry-first and only oligo engineering engine to efficiently design RNA-targeted oligo therapies using quantum chemistry principles rather than relying on traditional trial-and-error screening processes to significantly accelerate development timelines,” added Swagatam Mukhopadhyay, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Creyon will receive a $13 million upfront payment, which includes cash and the purchase of Creyon equity, and Creyon is also eligible to receive over $1 billion in development and commercialization payments provided certain milestones are achieved. Lilly is granted an exclusive license to lead candidates for each target, and if Lilly decides to move forward after certain milestones are achieved, then it will be responsible for further research, development and commercialization.

About Creyon Bio, Inc.

Creyon Bio is a nucleic acid drug development company whose goal is to make oligonucleotide (oligo) therapies safer and more effective for patients with rare and common diseases. The company is working to develop world-class, tissue-specific, RNA-targeted oligo therapies by combining proprietary computational methods with aptamer-based, tissue-specific delivery approaches. Creyon has built the industry-first and only AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine that enables a more systematic and cost-effective approach to designing safe and active oligos, moving beyond traditional trial-and-error methods.

To learn more, visit http://www.creyonbio.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

"This partnership marks an important milestone for Creyon as we work to advance our RNA-targeted oligo therapy pipeline to the clinic for both rare and common diseases."

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