Sitryx announces collaboration partner Lilly has commenced a Phase 1 study of SIT-011 for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
- Milestone triggers double-digit million dollar payment to Sitryx with the Company eligible to receive up to $570 million in potential development and commercial milestones plus tiered royalties
- Trial start follows Lilly’s decision to exercise its option to an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize SIT-011
- First program from 2020 global licensing and research collaboration to enter clinic
- Sitryx focused on advancing proprietary pipeline of immunometabolism-targeting therapies into clinical development
Oxford, UK – 4 January 2024 – Sitryx Therapeutics (“the Company”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on regulating cell metabolism to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, today announces that Eli Lilly & Company (Lilly) has commenced a Phase 1 first-in-human study of SIT-011, a post-translational modification modulator program for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Under the terms of the agreement with Lilly, Sitryx will receive an undisclosed, double-digit million dollar milestone payment and is also eligible to receive additional development and commercial milestones up to $570 million as well as tiered royalties. Lilly is leading further development and potential commercialization of the Phase 1 immunometabolism-targeting therapy.
Sitryx and Lilly entered into an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration agreement in March 2020, under which Sitryx received an upfront payment of $50 million and Lilly made a $10 million equity investment in the Company. The companies have collaborated on the development of programs exploring potentially first-in-class, small molecule immunometabolism-targeting therapies, including SIT-011 and SIT-047, a one-carbon metabolism program which continues to be progressed by Sitryx, in collaboration with Lilly. Lilly retains its option to exclusively license this second program for future development and commercialization. Sitryx is eligible to receive up to $1.1 billion in potential development and commercial milestones in addition to tiered royalties for these two lead programs.
Neil Weir, Chief Executive Officer of Sitryx, said: “Commencement of this clinical study represents a significant milestone for Sitryx, bringing us closer to our ultimate goal of developing next generation, targeted immunometabolic drugs for diseases with high unmet need. We are thrilled that our collaboration with Lilly has resulted in this promising candidate entering the clinic, reinforcing our confidence in the power of regulating metabolic pathways to rebalance the immune system and potentially drive disease remission. With our world-class science and continued investor support, we are well placed to advance our proprietary pipeline of immunometabolism-targeting therapies into clinical development and look forward to reporting continued progress in the months ahead.”
Ajay Nirula, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Immunology at Lilly, said: "We are pleased to progress SIT-011 into the clinic, a promising immunometabolism-targeting therapy that could meaningfully alter how we address autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. This is an exciting area of medicine which holds the promise of improvement over existing therapies. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the team at Sitryx and to advancing SIT-011 through the clinic.”
Sitryx is building a broad and differentiated proprietary pipeline by identifying novel targeted approaches based on how changes in metabolism modulate immune cell function. In September 2023 the Company completed a $39 million funding round, supported by world-class healthcare investors, SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), Longwood Fund, GSK and Lilly. Sitryx is using the proceeds to advance its proprietary pipeline of immunometabolism-targeting therapies into clinical development.
For more information about Sitryx please contact:
ICR Consilium
Mary-Jane Elliott, David Daley, Sue Stuart
+44 (0)20 3709 5700
Sitryx@consilium-comms.com
About Sitryx
Sitryx is a biopharmaceutical company focused on regulating cell metabolism to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Sitryx's proprietary science is led by a highly experienced management team and supported by world class academic founders. Sitryx was founded by world-leading researchers in the field of immunology and metabolism, including Houman Ashrafian, Luke O'Neill, Jonathan Powell, Jeff Rathmell, Michael Rosenblum and Paul Peter Tak. Together they have published more than 1,000 papers in the field, making multiple key breakthroughs in our understanding of how the energetic status of immune cells is critical in regulating disease activity.
Sitryx was founded in 2018 with seed funding from SV Health Investors and has raised in excess of $75 million to date from an international syndicate of specialist investors including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises, Longwood Fund, Lilly and GSK. In 2020, Sitryx formed an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. The Company has a pipeline of projects at multiple stages of drug discovery. Sitryx is headquartered in Oxford, UK. For more information, please visit www.sitryx.com.
