Eli Lilly is paying around $960 million to acquire biopharma CoLucid, boosting the US drugmaker’s portfolio for migraine pain management and adding a late-stage candidate with a potential near-term marketing launch. Massachusetts-based CoLucid is developing an oral 5-HT1F agonist (lasmiditan) for the acute treatment of migraine. The drug has completed the first of two pivotal Phase 3 trials, with a data read-out for the second trial expected in the second half of 2017.

Should the results prove positive, lasmiditan could be submitted for regulatory approval in 2018. If approved, the drug would be a first-in-class therapy to treat migraine through a novel mechanism of action without vasoconstriction, which could be particularly desirable for patients with or at risk from cardiovascular disease.

More than 36 million people suffer from migraine in the US alone, and Lilly’s president and CEO, David Ricks, said lasmiditan could be the first significant innovation for the acute treatment of migraine in more than 20 years.

The US drugmaker originally discovered lasmiditan but out-licensed the drug to CoLucid in 2005, as pain management was not a strategic focus at the time. Since then, the Indianapolis-headquartered group has reorganized its R&D efforts to focus on migraine as part of its emerging therapeutic area of pain.

Lasmiditan is said by Lilly to be an important addition to its emerging pain management pipeline, which includes galcanezumab, an investigational therapy in Phase 3 development for the prevention of migraine and cluster headache.

Under the terms of the deal, the company will acquire all CoLucid’s shares at a price of $46.50 per share. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2017, subject to antitrust clearance and other customary conditions.