(Reuters) -Eli Lilly will acquire Morphic Holding for $3.2 billion, the companies said on Monday, giving the U.S. drugmaker access to an experimental drug for inflammatory bowel disease.
Shares of drug developer Morphic surged 76% to $56.15 premarket on Lilly’s offer of $57 per share, which represents a 79% premium to stock’s last closing price.
Morphic’s lead drug MORF-057 is being evaluated in two phase 2 studies in ulcerative colitis patients and one phase 2 study in Crohn’s disease.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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