Ropes & Gray advised Fauna Bio in a multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with pharmaceutical leader Eli Lilly and Company that applies Fauna’s Convergence artificial intelligence (AI) platform to support preclinical drug discovery in obesity. The transaction was announced on December 21.
Under the agreement, Fauna Bio will receive an upfront payment, including an equity investment, and is eligible to receive up to $494 million in pre-clinical, clinical and commercial milestone payments, as well as royalties and product sales.
Fauna’s Convergence AI platform uses a process that involves studying genetics of animals that survive extreme conditions. This includes analyzing data collected from the protective adaptations of hibernating mammals and other extreme adaptations to identify drug targets for humans for diseases with high unmet medical needs.
The Ropes & Gray team was led by life sciences licensing partner Hannah England and life sciences licensing associate Nicole Rohr and included IP transactions partner Rajarshi Banerjee and life sciences licensing associate Sameer Desai.
