Eli Lilly completes SGX purchase

Eli Lilly has completed the acquisition of San Diego-based biotechnology company SGX Pharmaceuticals, a firm focused on drug discovery and development in the field of oncology.

The purchase was completed following a special stockholders meeting held this week, where a majority of stockholders in SGX voted in favour of the merger agreement with Eli Lilly.

Under the terms of the deal, Eli Lilly will acquire all the outstanding shares of common stock in SGX for the sum of $3 (1.61 pounds) per share, making the total purchase price approximately $64 million.

Eli Lilly said all closing conditions have also been met, while the agreement will facilitate the integration of of the structure-guided drug discovery platform from SGX into its own drug discovery operations.

Furthermore, the acquisition will also give Eli Lilly access to the Fast fragment-based protein structure guided drug discovery technology and a portfolio of high-value kinase target focused pre-clinical oncology compounds.

Steven M Paul, executive vice-president of science and technology for Eli Lilly, said: “We are pleased to complete the acquisition of SGX and are excited to bring the scientific and technological expertise of SGX into Lilly’s research organisation.”

He added the firm would leverage the combined resources of both companies to strengthen its biology capabilities.

Earlier this month, Eli Lilly announced the sale of its Greenfield, Indiana operations to Convance for $50 million.