Shionogi & Co, headquartered in Osaka, Japan, has agreed to acquire IntraBio, a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercialising therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

IntraBio would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Shionogi Inc, a New Jersey, US-based subsidiary of Shionogi. The deal would add Aqneursa (levacetylleucine) and IntraBio’s capabilities in the rare disease area to Shionogi’s growing portfolio.

Aqneursa was approved by the FDA in September 2024 for neurological manifestations of Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) in adults and paediatric patients and by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in January 2026.

It was approved by the FDA to treat Ataxia in adults and paediatric patients diagnosed with Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) in September 2026. Aqneursa is currently under review by the EMA for adult and paediatric patients diagnosed with A-T.

Isao Teshirogi, CEO of Shionogi, said: “Bringing Aqneursa to Shionogi after our acquisition of Radicava will deepen our commitment to rare disease communities, expand our capabilities and strengthen our portfolio as we advance future innovation for patients with significant unmet needs.”

Shionogi would acquire global rights, including intellectual property and commercialisation rights, for Aqneursa, which is currently under review by the EMA for adult and paediatric patients diagnosed with A-T.

In addition, IntraBio’s rare disease expertise would strengthen Shionogi’s capabilities across its rare disease pipeline, including clinical programmes in Pompe disease, Fragile X syndrome and Jordan’s syndrome, as well as additional early-stage rare neurodegenerative disease programmes recently added to the pipeline.

Eli Lilly and InnoCare Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, have entered into a strategic research collaboration and licence agreement to develop new medicines.

InnoCare will leverage its proprietary drug discovery platform and extensive research experience to discover and advance compounds against up to five targets to address critical unmet medical needs.

Under the terms of the agreement, InnoCare will be eligible to receive up to $100m in upfront and near-term payments, and up to approximately $3.25bn in development and commercial milestone payments. In addition, InnoCare will be eligible to receive single-digit tiered royalties based on annual net product sales.

InnoCare is focused on discovering, developing and commercialising innovative drugs for the treatment of cancers and autoimmune diseases, two therapeutic areas with unmet medical needs worldwide. The company has developed a product pipeline comprising three approved drugs (orelabrutinib, tafasitamab and zurletrectinib), more than ten innovative drug candidates in clinical development, and multiple programmes in preclinical stages.

Roche and Dualitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation bispecific antibody therapies for immunology and inflammation (I&I) diseases, have announced a research collaboration and licence agreement with to advance novel bispecific antibodies for I&I diseases.

In what is believed to be one of the largest-scale bispecific discovery endeavours, Dualitas will use its DualScreen Bispecific Discovery Engine to functionally screen over 300,000 novel bispecific combinations to discover and develop bispecific antibody (BsAb) therapeutics. Roche will be responsible for all subsequent preclinical development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercial activities.

Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay Dualitas $36.5m upfront, with additional research, development and commercial milestone payments for a potential total deal value of up to $1bn, in addition to tiered royalties.

The collaboration will leverage Dualitas’ expertise in proximity biology to develop BsAb candidates with synergistic activities that are unattainable with conventional therapeutics.