Eli Lilly is set to acquire Merida Biosciences, paying up to $2.875bn for the biotechnology company, which is advancing a new class of precision therapeutics for serious autoimmune and allergic diseases.

Merida’s lead programme, MER511, is in phase 1 development for Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease (TED). Graves’ disease affects approximately three million people in the US, and patients face elevated cardiovascular risk and mortality.

Roughly 25-40% of people with Graves’ disease go on to develop TED, which can cause pain, disfigurement and, in severe cases, vision loss.

While there are approved treatments for both conditions, none directly targets the autoantibodies that cause them. Because pathogenic autoantibodies drive a wide range of serious diseases, Merida’s platform has potential application well beyond its lead programme.

The company’s pipeline also includes MER769, a preclinical programme focused on food allergy, asthma, chronic spontaneous urticaria and other diseases driven by the antibody responsible for triggering allergic reactions, along with earlier-stage programmes in kidney diseases such as membranous nephropathy and other immune-mediated conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The US FDA has approved Revolution Medicines’ Rasonque (daraxonrasib), a RAS inhibitor for the most common form of pancreatic cancer – delivering a new treatment option to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Rasonque, a tablet taken once daily, targets multiple forms of a protein called RAS, a key driver of tumour growth in most patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, which arises from cells lining the ducts of the pancreas.

The approval is for the treatment of adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have received at least one prior systemic therapy or are not candidates for multi-agent systemic therapy.

In a trial involving 500 adults with previously treated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, Rasonque improved median overall survival to 13.2 months compared to 6.7 months for standard chemotherapy.

Approximately 90-95% of the 67,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in the US each year are pancreatic adenocarcinoma, according to the National Cancer Institute. Despite representing roughly 3.2% of all cancer diagnoses, pancreatic adenocarcinoma accounts for a disproportionately high share of cancer deaths, owing to its typically late detection, aggressive disease course and historically limited treatment options.

Johnson & Johnson has reached an agreement to end the remaining talc litigation with the plaintiff firms leading the US federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) and related state court proceedings. The MDL Court’s recent specific causation ruling confirmed the company’s longstanding position that these claims lack scientific merit.

The resolution is conditioned on the express participation of at least 95% of the remaining claims, among other things. The proposed resolution follows a favourable ruling by the MDL court, and acknowledgment by plaintiffs’ counsel, regarding plaintiffs’ inability to prove that Johnson & Johnson’s talc products caused any particular claimant’s ovarian cancer (‘specific causation’).

The proposed resolution, with per claim payments, constitutes an efficient conclusion to the talc litigation, with Johnson & Johnson committing to pay $5.5bn. The first payment of no more than $3bn is to be made in 2027 and no additional payments are due before 2028.

Johnson & Johnson has previously settled about 95% of filed mesothelioma lawsuits, all US State consumer protection claims and all talc-supplier disputes. In 2023 the company discontinued talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder globally and separated its consumer health business, Kenvue.