Tamuzimod

San Diego-based Ventyx Biosciences has made no secret of the fact that it was hoping to find additional pharma backing. \n Ventyx Biosciences has achieved its goal of securing Big Pharma commitment to its pipeline, with Eli Lilly swooping in to buy the inflammation biotech outright for $1.2 billion.The San Diego-based company has made no secret of the fact that it was hoping to find additional pharma backing. Sanofi had already secured the right to first negotiation for Ventyx’s Parkinson’s and cardiovascular disease candidate VTX3232 as part of a $27 million investment the French pharma made in the biotech in 2024.A first readout from a phase 2 study of VTX3232 last June tied the NLRP3 inhibitor to drops in biomarkers of NLRP3 inhibition as well as improvements in Parkinson’s motor and non-motor symptoms.At the time, Ventyx CEO Raju Mohan, Ph.D., acknowledged that Sanofi’s right of first negotiation wouldn’t formally start until the second VTX3232 readout. But the CEO gave a strong hint that the company didn’t want to wait that long to secure a Big Pharma partner.“Sanofi is not restricted to waiting until the second readout,\" Mohan said at a Jefferies event in June 2025. “They or anybody else can act any time. We can\'t solicit other folks as part of [the right of first negotiation], but somebody can say, ‘Hey, look, we love your data.’”It sounds like Lilly did just that. The U.S. pharma announced Wednesday that it was paying $14 per share of Ventyx—more than double the $7.50 the stock closed out at Monday. The price tag values Ventyx at around $1.2 billion, Lilly explained in a Jan. 7 release. VTX3232 doesn’t only have potential for Parkinson’s patients. In October, Ventyx read out data from a separate phase 2 study demonstrating that the drug cut levels of a biomarker for stroke and other serious risks by almost 80% within a week. That trial looked at VTX3232 as a monotherapy as well as an add-on to Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss drug semaglutide.Beyond VTX3232, Ventyx has another NLRP3 inhibitor, dubbed VTX2735, in phase 2 studies for a type of heart inflammation called recurrent pericarditis. There are also two inflammatory bowel disease drugs in phase 2 development—an S1P1R modulator called tamuzimod and a TYK2 inhibitor called VTX958.Mohan described Lilly as an “ideal strategic partner,” pointing to the pharma’s “unparalleled resources, a passion for innovative oral drugs and a commitment to advance novel therapies.”“Our portfolio of class-leading NLRP3 inhibitors modulate residual and chronic inflammation that is now recognized as a major risk factor in a host of neuroinflammatory, cardiometabolic and cardiovascular diseases,” Mohan added.Explaining the rationale behind the deal, Lilly Chief Scientific and Product Officer Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., alluded to “increasing evidence that inflammation is a key driver of many chronic diseases.” “Ventyx\'s clinical-stage pipeline addresses a critical need for better treatment options across diseases mediated by chronic inflammation and further strengthens our ability to deliver meaningful advances for patients living with challenging diseases across focus areas of cardiometabolic health, neurodegeneration and autoimmunity,” Skovronsky added.William Blair analysts said yesterday’s deal “demonstrates clear interest from Big Pharma in the NLRP3 inhibitor class to address a broad range of neuroinflammatory, cardiometabolic, and cardiovascular diseases.”In a Jan. 8 note, the analysts pointed out that other biopharmas are working in the NLRP3 space, name-checking the likes of Novartis, Neumora, Neurocrine Biosciences, BioAge, NodThera and Monte Rosa Therapeutics.“NLRP3 in the [central nervous system] also represents an intriguing target for obesity and several preclinical studies across NLRP3 inhibitors suggest obesity efficacy in diet-induced-obesity models,” the analysts added. “However, not all NLRP3 inhibitors are CNS-penetrant.”