SC TO-C

This Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO relates solely to preliminary communications made before the commencement of a planned tender offer by Kearny Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware corporation (“Purchaser”) and wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, an Indiana corporation (“Lilly”), for all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Akouos, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of October 17, 2022 (the “Merger Agreement”), among Lilly, Purchaser and the Company.

In connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company, Lilly will cause Purchaser to commence a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of common stock of the Company. The tender offer has not yet commenced. This filing is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities, nor is it a substitute for the tender offer materials that Lilly and Purchaser will file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) upon commencement of the tender offer. A solicitation and offer to buy outstanding shares of the Company will only be made pursuant to the tender offer materials that Lilly and Purchaser intend to file with the SEC. At the time the tender offer is commenced, Lilly and Purchaser will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, and the Company will file a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9 (the “Solicitation/Recommendation Statement”) with the SEC with respect to the tender offer. THE TENDER OFFER MATERIALS (INCLUDING AN OFFER TO PURCHASE, A RELATED LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL AND CERTAIN OTHER OFFER DOCUMENTS) AND THE SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED ACQUISITION AND THE PARTIES THERETO. INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ THESE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE (AND EACH AS IT MAY BE AMENDED OR SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME) BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISION REGARDING TENDERING THEIR SHARES IN THE OFFER. The tender offer materials (including the Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal), as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, will be made available to all investors and stockholders of the Company at no expense to them at Lilly’s website at investor.lilly.com and (once they become available) will be mailed to the stockholders of the Company free of charge. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, Lilly’s website is not a part of, or incorporated by reference in, this filing. The tender offer materials (including the Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal), as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, will also be made available for free on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition to the Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, Lilly and the Company file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read any reports, statements or other information filed by Lilly and the Company with the SEC for free on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This filing contains forward-looking statements regarding Lilly’s proposed acquisition of the Company, regarding prospective benefits of the proposed acquisition, regarding potential contingent consideration amounts and terms, regarding the anticipated occurrence, manner and timing of the proposed tender offer and the closing of the proposed acquisition, regarding the Company’s product candidates and ongoing clinical and preclinical development, regarding Lilly’s development of a gene therapy program for inner ear conditions and existing genetic medicine programs, and regarding the accounting treatment of the potential acquisition under GAAP and its potential impact on Lilly’s financial results and financial guidance. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect current beliefs and expectations; however, these statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including with respect to consummating the proposed acquisition and any competing offers or acquisition proposals for the Company, drug research, development and commercialization, Lilly’s evaluation of the accounting treatment of the potential acquisition and its potential impact on its financial results and financial guidance, uncertainties as to how many of the Company’s stockholders will tender their stock in the tender offer, the effects of the proposed acquisition (or the announcement thereof) on the Company’s stock price, relationships with key third parties or governmental entities, transaction costs, risks that the proposed acquisition disrupts current plans and operations or adversely affects employee retention, potentially diverting management’s attention from the Company’s ongoing business operations, changes in the Company’s business during the period between announcement and closing of the proposed acquisition, and any legal proceedings that may be instituted related to the proposed acquisition. Actual results could differ materially due to various factors, risks and uncertainties. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that the proposed acquisition will be completed in the anticipated timeframe or at all, that the conditions required to complete the proposed acquisition will be met, that any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement will not occur, that Lilly will realize the expected benefits of the proposed acquisition, that product candidates will be approved on anticipated timelines or at all, that Lilly will be successful in building a gene therapy program for inner ear conditions, that any products, if approved, will be commercially successful, that all or any of the contingent consideration will become payable on the terms described herein or at all, that Lilly’s financial results will be consistent with its expected 2022 guidance or that Lilly can reliably predict the impact of the proposed acquisition on its financial results or financial guidance. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see Lilly’s and the Company’s most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, neither Lilly nor the Company undertakes any duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this filing.


Exhibit No.		Description

Exhibit 99.1		Joint Press Release issued on October 18, 2022.