SEOUL — South Korea's Alzinova has secured additional research funding from Eli Lilly and Co. for their ongoing collaboration on treatments for hereditary hearing loss, marking the fourth time the biotech firm has received such funds, the company said on Monday.
The latest allocation consists of research operational costs provided independently of upfront payments and milestone fees, and is separate from the total contract value. For accounting purposes, the funds will be recognized as revenue over the designated service period.
The two companies entered into a global research collaboration and licensing agreement in May of last year. Should Eli Lilly exercise all contractual options, the total deal value could exceed $1.3 billion, supplemented by commercial-stage royalties. The upfront payment has been kept confidential by mutual agreement.
The partnership centers on Alzinova’s proprietary RNA replacement enzyme platform, which corrects genetic information at the RNA level. The firms are currently identifying candidate substances applying this technology to hereditary hearing loss. Initial research is conducted by Alzinova under an agreed-upon plan, while subsequent development and commercialization will be led by Eli Lilly.
Project progress is reviewed regularly through Joint Research Committee (JRC) meetings. Alzinova noted that researchers from Eli Lilly expressed positive feedback regarding recent data during an August meeting, a development previously highlighted during a corporate briefing in September.
Building on its ongoing search for hearing loss therapeutics, Alzinova plans to advance R&D and pursue additional global partnerships to expand the therapeutic applications of its RNA replacement enzyme platform.
