Under the deal, Lilly will receive an upfront payment of $2m in cash, 1.2 million shares of Ignyta common stock, up to $38m in milestones and royalties on net sales.
The companies have also signed a stock purchase agreement under which Lilly will buy 1.5 million shares of Ignyta common stock at $20 per share through private placement.
Ignyta granted back to Lilly exclusive rights for the development and commercialization of taladegib-containing products in combination with other Lilly compounds.
Ignyta will be eligible to receive sales-based royalties on the combination products that Lilly launches.
Ignyta chairman and CEO Jonathan Lim said: "The exclusive license from Lilly of this clinical program with demonstrated compelling Phase 1 activity is well aligned with our strategic vision of developing first-in-class and/or best-in-class therapeutics that can potentially eradicate residual disease in precisely defined patient populations.
"This new targeted oncology program is a hedgehog/smoothened antagonist that complements our pipeline well and provides us with exciting potential monotherapy and combination therapy approaches across multiple solid tumor indications."
US-based Ignyta is undertaking a therapeutic (Rx) and companion diagnostic (Dx) strategy to treat cancer patients.
The company aims to discover, develop and commercialize new drugs that target activated cancer genes and pathways for the treatment of cancer.