QurAlis Enters into Strategic License and Collaboration Transaction with Eli Lilly for the Treatment of ALS and Frontotemporal Dementia

Gunderson Dettmer represented QurAlis, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company developing drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, in its strategic license and collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly.  Under the agreement QurAlis granted Lilly global rights to develop and commercialize QurAlis’ QRL-204 product, a potentially first-in-class precision therapy that is designed to restores UNC13A function in ALS, FTD and other neurodegenerative diseases.  The parties also agreed to collaborate on the research and development of additional compounds targeting UNC13A. In addition to an upfront payment of $45 million and an equity investment in QurAlis, QurAlis is eligible to receive up to $577 million in future milestone payments and tiered royalties on net sales. The new capital will be used to back clinical trials for QurAlis’s two other programs and build staff.

In a statement announcing the transaction, QurAlis’ CEO and co-founder Kasper Roet said, "On behalf of the entire team at QurAlis, we are extremely pleased to partner with Lilly, an innovation-led company advancing transformative medicines to help make life better for people around the world."

The Gunderson Dettmer team was led by Tim Ehrlich and Joel Diamond.

Companies
QurAlis 
Eli Lilly