BRIEF—Eli Lilly reportedly set to buy Mablink

US pharma major Eli Lilly has agreed to acquire Mablink Bioscience, a French biotech focused on antibody-drug conjugates for cancer, according to Endpoints News, citing Lilly’s chief scientific officer Dan Skovronsky.

If confirmed, this would be the sixth M&A deal for Lilly this year.

Lyon, France-based Mablink had previously partnered with Emergence Therapeutics, another European ADC developer Lilly acquired early this year.

Mablink, which was founded in 2019, says its technology is based on a unique structure of chemical links (called “linkers”) placed between an antibody and any chosen cytotoxic molecule to be delivered into tumor cells.

Mablink posted pre-clinical data for its lead ADC candidate, MBK-103, at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research Meeting.