Eli Lilly and Co. has entered a collaboration agreement with Sosei Heptares to develop small molecules that modulate G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets in diabetes and metabolic diseases.
 
Under the collaboration, Lilly will pay $37 million upfront and Sosei is eligible to receive as much as $694 million in development and commercial milestones, as well as royalties.
 
The collaboration will leverage Sosei’s StaR platform, which designs GPCRs by engineering a small number of single point mutations, and Lilly’s expertise in diabetes and metabolic diseases.