Manny Simons, Akouos CEO (Webb Chappell/Harvard Business School)

Up­dat­ed: Not known for gene ther­a­py plays, Eli Lil­ly ac­quires hear­ing loss start­up Ak­ou­os for $487M plus CVR

Eli Lil­ly is jump­ing in­to gene ther­a­pies for the ear.

The Big Phar­ma an­nounced ear­ly Tues­day that it will ac­quire Boston biotech Ak­ou­os for a 78% pre­mi­um over Mon­day’s clos­ing price. Ak­ou­os closed at $7.01 per share Mon­day af­ter­noon, while Lil­ly is pay­ing $12.50 per share. Lil­ly is al­so shelling out one con­tin­gent val­ue right (CVR) for up to $3 a share.

In all, it’s a $487 mil­lion buy­out with an­oth­er $123 mil­lion on the ta­ble if the CVR hits — good for $610 mil­lion in to­tal. Eli Lil­ly and Ak­ou­os both de­clined to com­ment be­yond their press re­leas­es.

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