Lilly completes purchase of Verve Therapeutics and its gene editing heart treatments

Eli Lilly completed its purchase of Verve Therapeutics on July 25, 2025, roughly five weeks after the two companies announced the deal ^[1][2]. Verve is a Boston-based clinical-stage company developing gene editing medicines designed to lower cardiovascular risk with a single treatment ^[1][2].

Under the terms announced June 17, 2025, Lilly paid $10.50 per share in cash, about $1.0 billion in total at closing ^[1]. Each share also came with one non-tradeable contingent value right, or CVR, that could pay up to $3.00 more per share, bringing the maximum total to $13.50 per share, or about $1.3 billion ^[1]. The cash price represented a premium of about 113% to Verve's 30-day volume-weighted average trading price through June 16, 2025 ^[1]. Verve's board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer, and holders of about 17.8% of outstanding shares — including CEO Sekar Kathiresan and entities affiliated with GV — signed agreements to tender their shares ^[1].

The additional $3.00 per share is tied to one milestone: the first patient dosed with VERVE-102 for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in a U.S. Phase 3 trial, on or before the tenth anniversary of the closing ^[1]. The companies stated there is no assurance that payment will be made ^[1].

Verve's lead program, VERVE-102, is an in vivo gene editing medicine designed to permanently turn off the PCSK9 gene in the liver ^[1]. It is being evaluated in a Phase 1b trial and has received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ^[1]. Verve is developing it first for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), an inherited condition that affects about 1 in 250 people in the general population, and later for patients with established ASCVD whose LDL cholesterol remains high ^[1]. Two other programs target different genes: VERVE-201 aims to turn off ANGPTL3, and VERVE-301 targets LPA to reduce lipoprotein(a) ^[1].

"VERVE-102 has the potential to be the first in vivo gene editing therapy for broad patient populations and could shift the treatment paradigm for cardiovascular disease from chronic care to one-and-done treatment," said Ruth Gimeno, a Lilly group vice president for Diabetes and Metabolic Research and Development ^[1]. Kathiresan said that in seven years the company had advanced three in vivo gene editing products, with two currently in the clinic ^[1].

No results from the VERVE-102 trial — including how much it lowers PCSK9 or LDL cholesterol, or how long any effect lasts — were disclosed in either the announcement or the completion notice. Whether the treatment is safe over years or decades, and whether it reduces heart attacks or strokes, has not been reported. A start date for a Phase 3 trial has not been announced, and cost or insurance coverage has not been disclosed ^[1][2].

Why it matters for patients

Most cholesterol and cardiovascular treatments available today are taken continuously — daily pills, or injections given weekly or monthly. GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) are also long-term treatments that people generally stay on indefinitely. VERVE-102 takes a different approach, aiming to make a permanent change to a gene so the effect could last after a single dose ^[1]. If it works, that could matter to people who have trouble staying on daily or weekly therapy, or whose LDL stays high despite currently available drugs ^[1].

Gene editing for cholesterol is still experimental. VERVE-102 has not been approved by the FDA and is in early-stage testing ^[1]. The approach permanently alters DNA in liver cells, and the announcements did not describe long-term safety data or whether the change can be undone. Nothing in the announcements suggests these treatments affect weight, appetite or GLP-1 pathways; they target cholesterol-related genes ^[1].

What happens next

• VERVE-102 continues in a Phase 1b clinical trial ^[1].
• Lilly would owe CVR holders up to $3.00 per share if a first patient is dosed in a U.S. Phase 3 trial for ASCVD by roughly July 2035, the tenth anniversary of the closing ^[1].
• No start date for that Phase 3 trial, and no trial results, have been announced ^[1][2].