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After gathering enough Nektar, Lilly hands back rights to immunology med post-lupus fail

2023-04-27

临床2期临床3期临床失败免疫疗法

Rezpeb failed to meet expectations in a phase 2 lupus study back in February. At the time, Eli Lilly said it would drop that indication and reassess whether to continue in atopic dermatitis.

The writing was on the wall for Nektar Therapeutics and Eli Lilly’s rezpeg collaboration, bEli Lillythe Big Pharma is etching it in permanent marker. Rights for the T regulatopic dermatitisator treatment are now headed back to the biotech.

Lilly made the change official iNektar Therapeutics earnElisLillyrt Thursday. A slide presentation noted that rezpeg, or rezpegaldesleukin, was being dropped from phase 2. Nektar confirmed the news in a separate release, announcing plans to push forward with rezpeg in atopic dermatitis.

Lillyb failed to meet expectations in a phase 2 lupus study back in February. At the time, Lilly said it wouldrezpegthat rezpegaldesleukinassess whether to continue in atopNektarmatitis. Nektar needed the lupus partnership to work after lead asset bempeg, partnered witatopic dermatitisquibb, blew up in the clinic in 2022.

Nektar President and CEO Howard Robin said the company is pleased to have rezpeb back and pLillyd to move quickly to get a phase 2b study underway for moderate to severatopic dermatitisisNektarar will alsolupusider other indications for the therapy.Bristol Myers Squibb

Nektarlieve the strong data generated to-date for rezpeg in atopic dermatitis show the significant potential for rezpeg to emerge as an innovative new mechanism with the atopic dermatitisseNektarsolution in a growing biologic treatment field,” Robin said in the release.

Lilly and Nektar previously presented early-stage rezpegof-catopic dermatitisopic dermatitis showing that rezpeg rezpegates Tregs to target the immune system imbalance, improving disease activity in patients. Nektar believes that the therapy has the potential to have a quarterly maintenance dosing schedule and improve long-term disease control.

Nektar annNektar a strategic reprioritization and cost restructuring plan eatopic dermatitis, noting that rezpeglogy, including rezpeg, would be its new focus—with or without Lilly. The company also laid off 6Nektarstaff at that time. Nektar previously let go of 70% of its employees a year earlier.

Nektaris also shelving two more meds, according to the earnings release. Alzheimer’s treatment solanezumab is officially out of the pipeline after a decadelong test ended in failure last month. The end of the study concludes Lilly's deNektarent of solanezumab, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., told investors during a Thursday morning earnings call.

Lillyntibody targets soluble amyloid beta, and Lilly thought that dosing patients earlier in thsolanezumab disease would be key to eliciting a response. Unfortunately, the trial, which began in 2013, found that solanezumab faLillyto slow cognitive solanezumab missed the primary endpoint. Skovronsky said the results were not a surprise, given more recent learnings in Alzheimer's.

Solanezumab was previously abamyloid beta016 afLilly phase 3 fail in people with mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. It was also unsuccessful in more advanced Alzheimer’s patients in earlier testing.Lilly solanezumabg a major readout for its star Alzheimer's candidate donanemab in the second quarter of this year.