U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly to acquire AurKa Pharma for $575 million

U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co will buy AurKa Pharma Inc in a deal potentially worth up to $575 million, seeking access to the privately-held firm's experimental cancer treatment for solid tumors.

AurKa Pharma will receive $110 million upfront and is eligible to earn up to $465 million more if it achieves regulatory and sales milestones.

The deal is Lilly's second in less than a week that aims to broaden its portfolio of lucrative cancer drugs. On Thursday, Lilly said it would buy Armo BioSciences Inc for about $1.6 billion.

AurKa's chief drug under development was discovered by Lilly, but the drugmaker sold the compound in 2016 to TVM Capital Life Science, which established AurKa.