Today, a brief rundown of news from Insmed and Johnson & Johnson, as well as updates from Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Moonlake Immunotherapeutics, Eli Lilly and Lexeo Therapeutics that you may have missed.
Insmed said that Brinsupri, its recently approved drug for a chronic lung condition, generated close to $145 million in sales in its first full quarter on the market. Brinsupri is used to treat bronchiectasis not caused by cystic fibrosis and widely expected by Wall Street analysts to generate billions in sales. Still, the numbers announced Friday more than doubled consensus estimates and were hailed by multiple analysts as a “ginormous,” “impressive” result that could further heighten expectations. Analysts currently project $723 million in 2026 alone, but those estimates may now be approaching $1 billion, wrote RBC Capital Markets’ Leonid Timashev. — Ben Fidler
Johnson & Johnson on Thursday became the latest pharmaceutical company to agree to “most favored nation” pricing in return for a reprieve on pharmaceutical tariffs. The company didn’t provide many specifics in its announcement. But it’ll participate in a government online channel for drug purchasing; enable U.S. patients to access drugs at comparable prices to what’s paid in foreign countries; and give the same prices to Medicaid, which already has best-price guarantees. J&J will also build a cell therapy plant in Pennsylvania and a facility in North Carolina as part of its $55 billion commitment to boost U.S. manufacturing capacity. — Jonathan Gardner
Madrigal Pharmaceuticals said Friday it licensed from Pfizer a drug it sees becoming part of a potential combination regimen involving its marketed MASH drug Rezdiffra. Pfizer received $50 million upfront for the therapy, ervogastat, and is entitled to unspecified additional milestone payments and royalties. Madrigal noted that the drug helped spur significant reductions of liver fat in Phase 2 testing and may boost the effects of Rezdiffra, which works via a different mechanism. It’ll conduct a drug-drug interaction study and discuss the design of a Phase 2 combination trial with the Food and Drug Administration this year. — Delilah Alvarado
Moonlake Immunotherapeutics shares climbed by 27% on news that the company may not need to run another trial to gain FDA approval for a medication it’s been developing for the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa. Moonlake’s market value crumbled in September after it reported mixed results from two Phase 3 studies. But on Thursday, the company said that based on FDA feedback it may be able to prove the effectiveness of the drug, sonelokimab, with existing evidence. It’ll file an application later this year. — Ben Fidler
A combination of Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound and autoimmune medication Taltz was better than Taltz alone at spurring weight loss and reducing signs of psoriatic arthritis in a Phase 3 trial, the company said Thursday. The trial enrolled people with the inflammatory condition and who are overweight or have obesity. Investigators found that 32% of enrollees who got both drugs saw a 50% reduction in psoriatic arthritis activity and at least 10% loss of body weight over 36 weeks, compared with less than 1% in those who got just Taltz. Lilly said it will discuss the results with global health regulators. — Jonathan Gardner
Lexeo Therapeutics and J&J will work on a new way to deliver gene therapies to the heart, the companies said Thursday. Through the deal, the companies will use a type of heart pump technology known as Impella to more directly send adeno-associated viruses into cardiac tissue. They hope to show that the approach might enhance efficacy and safety, in part by enabling companies use lower doses of AAVs, which can trigger potentially dangerous immune responses. — Delilah Alvarado
