Today, a brief rundown of news from Eli Lilly and Roche, as well as updates from Roivant, Gilead Sciences and Aerska that you may have missed.
Eli Lilly has formed its seventh collaboration with Suzhou, China-based Innovent Biologics, announcing on Monday a broad alliance to develop drugs for cancer and immunological diseases. Per deal terms, Innovent will lead discovery and early development of the prospects to emerge from the work through “clinical proof-of-concept,” with Lilly taking on responsibilities afterwards and gaining commercialization rights outside of China. Innovent will receive $350 million upfront, and potentially up to $8.5 billion more in future payouts. The alliance is at least the third between Innovent and an international drugmaker since the start of 2025, following deals with Takeda and Roche, according to BioPharma Dive data. — Ben Fidler
Over the weekend, Genentech presented detailed results from a late-stage trial that evaluated an experimental tablet against a severe form of multiple sclerosis known as "primary progressive." Genentech's parent, Roche, disclosed in November that the drug, "fenebrutinib," succeeded in the trial by being "non-inferior" to the company's blockbuster therapy Ocrevus. The experiment used a mashup of three measures, including overall disability level, to assess how patients' disease was advancing. On Saturday, Roche said fenebrutinib showed a 12% reduction in the risk of disability progression compared to Ocrevus, and that common adverse events were "comparable" between the two drugs. Roche is waiting for another study to produce data before it submits a package to drug regulators. Michael Leuchten, an analyst at Jefferies, wrote in a note to clients how the recent rejection of a similar medicine from Sanofi "strongly suggests" the Food and Drug Administration is "very focused" on the liver safety issues these types of treatments can cause. As such, the Jefferies team isn't sure whether anyone should view the program as having a high likelihood of approval. — Jacob Bell
Roivant shares climbed by more than 20% on Friday on positive mid-stage study results from an immune disease pill being developed by Priovant, one of its subsidiary companies. When compared to a placebo, the drug, brepocitinib, significantly improved indications of disease intensity after four months in people with the inflammatory skin condition cutaneous sarcoidosis. Priovant intends to start pivotal testing this year, pending discussions with U.S. regulators. Brepocitinib has already been submitted for approval in the rare condition dermatomyositis and is in late-stage testing in a type of eye inflammation. — Ben Fidler
The FDA on Friday removed certain limitations narrowing use of Gilead Sciences’ cell therapy Yescarta, the company said Friday. Use of Yescarta, which is cleared to treat relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, was previously restricted in people with a rare and fast-growing malignancy called primary central nervous system lymphoma. Positive data from an investigator-sponsored early-stage study, though, led U.S. regulators to update Yescarta’s prescribing information. Yescarta is now the only cell therapy of its kind with that claim on its labeling, Gilead said. — Delilah Alvarado
Dublin-based startup Aerska raised $39 million in Series A funding to back plans to develop RNA medicines for neurological conditions. The fresh funds announced Monday add to a $21 million seed round for the startup, which launched in October aiming to prove its “antibody-oligo conjugate” technology can deliver RNA interference medicines throughout the brain. The Series A round was co-led by EQT Life Sciences’ LSP Dementia Fund and age1. — Delilah Alvarado
