Months after scuttling IPO bid, Centrexion adds to balance sheet with Lilly deal for pain therapy

A licensing deal with Lilly for an analgesic will bolster Centrexion's balance sheet six months after it canceled plans for an IPO. Centrexion will receive $47.5 million up front and is eligible for $950 million in milestones.

The deal gives Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) oral SSTR4 agonist CNTX-0290, which Centrexion Therapeutics Corp. (Boston, Mass.) had obtained in 2016 from Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Ingelheim, Germany). It completed a Phase I trial in 2017 showing that the compound was well tolerated...