Eli Lilly will buy Boston-based Verve Therapeutics, Inc. in a billion dollar deal with plans to advance Verve's new line of experimental cardiac health drugs.

Eli Lilly will acquire gene-editing startup Verve Therapeutics for up to $1.3 billion, the companies said on Tuesday, sending Verve's shares up 77.7% in premarket trading. Lilly has struck multiple partnership deals with gene-editing companies in the last two years to expand its portfolio beyond its blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

Lilly confirmed it would buy a Boston-based clinical-stage company developing genetic medicines for cardiovascular disease.