Eli Lilly struck a global research and licensing agreement with Seamless Therapeutics to apply programmable recombinase gene editing to hearing loss targets, a deal with reported potential value above $1.1 billion. The collaboration gives Lilly exclusive rights to Seamless‑designed recombinases that perform targeted DNA insertions independent of host repair pathways. Seamless will evolve enzymes and deliver candidate recombinases for Lilly to advance preclinically and clinically. The pact reflects big‑pharma interest in alternative in vivo editing modalities that avoid double‑strand break dependence and may offer distinct safety or payload advantages. For startups, the agreement highlights demand for platform technologies that can be partnered across therapeutic areas and scaled with a major developer for clinical translation.