(Reuters) -MeiraGTx Holdings has signed a deal with Eli Lilly, potentially worth over $475 million, granting the pharma giant rights to its experimental gene therapy for a rare, inherited disorder that causes severe vision loss from birth.

Shares of the gene therapy developer rose 12.5% to $9.55 in premarket trading on Monday after the news.

Under the deal, MeiraGTx will get an upfront payment of $75 million and potentially over $400 million more in milestone payments. MeiraGTx is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on licensed products.

This marks Lilly’s latest effort to tap the market for eye treatments and bolster its focus on gene therapies, after signing a deal valued at up to $261.7 million to buy gene therapy developer Adverum Biotechnologies in October. Adverum is develop

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