PharmaEssentia Corp.

Eli Lilly and Innovent's $8.8 billion new partnership, China's indictment of AstraZeneca and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals' latest metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis deal made our news this week. Eli Lilly and Innovent Biologics have deepened their ties with a new type of deal. China has indicted AstraZeneca and its former top exec in the country following investigations that emerged in 2024. Madrigal has signed a potential $4.4 billion siRNA deal with a Chinese biotech. And more.1. Lilly, Innovent pen $8.8B oncology, immunology collab that 'moves beyond traditional licensing'Eli Lilly has made a different kind of deal with its longtime Chinese partner Innovent Biologics. For $350 million upfront and up to $8.5 billion in milestone payments, Innovent will use its antibody platform to develop oncology and immunology programs for potential post-phase 2 adoption by Lilly outside greater China. The platform deal is different from traditional asset-specific licensing arrangements and forms a strategic partnership between the firms.2. China indicts AstraZeneca and former exec Leon Wang over data, trade chargesChina has officially indicted AstraZeneca and its former China head Leon Wang, plus another senior employee, over charges of unlawful collection of personal information and illegal trade, according to AZ. The two former execs also face additional charges of medical insurance fraud. Under the case, the company is accused of illegal importation of cancer drugs Imfinzi, Imjudo and Enhertu. 3. Madrigal pens $4.4B deal for Ribo's preclinical siRNA programs in latest Rezdiffra MASH playMadrigal Pharmaceutical, looking to further consolidate its lead in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), is paying $60 million upfront for six preclinical small interfering RNA programs from China’s Ribo Life Science and its subsidiary Ribocure Pharmaceuticals. The goal is to selectively reduce the production of disease-driving proteins in MASH through gene silencing.4. Takeda inks $1.7B AI drug discovery deal with Iambic TherapeuticsTakeda has entered a multiyear partnership to use Iambic Therapeutics' artificial intelligence drug discovery platform, including a predictor of protein-ligand complexes called NeuralPLexer. The initial focus is oncology, gastrointestinal and inflammatory therapeutic areas. Iambic could receive milestones potentially worth more than $1.7 billion.5. Takeda downsizes Boston footprint amid consolidation effortMeanwhile, Takeda has put up more than 630,000 square feet of Boston office space for sublease as the company is on track to open its R&D facility in Kendall Square later this year. The company’s presence in the area will drop from 1.56 million square feet across seven buildings to 1.43 million square feet across four buildings.Other News of Note: 6. Kailera, Hengrui tout up to 12% weight loss in midstage study for obesity pill7. Roche settles Perjeta biosimilar suit with Organon, Henlius (Bloomberg)8. Fujifilm Biotechnologies crosses finish line on £400M UK antibody production, process development expansion9. Otsuka awareness campaign urges HCPs to see 'All of ADHD'10. Taiwan’s PharmaEssentia to build $46M manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico

The UK is “absolutely” still an attractive place for investment by manufacturers, Fujifilm Biotechnologies CEO Lars Petersen told Endpoints News in an interview, as the contract manufacturer opens its newly expanded facility in Teesside, England. Last year, a number of large pharma companies, including Merck, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly, pulled out or paused UK investments, criticizing the government for not prioritizing the life science sector and making the country an unattractive place to do business. That outflow hasn’t impacted CDMOs downstream, Petersen said. “We have not seen pressure from customers saying: ‘Hey, we would not utilize your facility in the UK,’ not at all. We see a lot of interest in our facility,” he said. The £400 million ($546 million) expansion will be operational in this year’s first half. Fujifilm has already secured some customer contracts to fill the site, but it’s still open to new clients, Petersen said. The Teesside facility makes medicines for the UK market as well as EU customers. Moderna has signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the Mexican government, drug distributor Laboratorios de Biológicos y Reactivos de Mexico and Mexican pharma company Laboratorios Liomont. Under the agreement, Moderna will supply its respiratory vaccines, as well as transfer manufacturing of its Covid-19 vaccine Spikevax to Liomont. Moderna will also partner with the government to boost local clinical research and Mexico’s pandemic preparedness. Novartis also broke ground on a new research center in San Diego, CA, after announcing the $1.1 billion build as part of its $23 billion pledge to the US in April. The 466,000-square-foot site is expected to be operational in 2029 and employ about 1,000 staffers. Also this week:

Nancy Pauwels/ iStock The Taiwan-based company is establishing a manufacturing center for the U.S. market. Taiwan’s PharmaEssentia has committed $46 million to build a Puerto Rico drug manufacturing facility to serve the U.S. market, the company announced Tuesday. PharmaEssentia won FDA approval in 2021 for its monoPEGylated, long-acting interferon BESREMi in adults with the rare blood cancer polycythemia vera. To date, the company has relied on a mix of internal capacity in Taiwan and fill/finish service partners in Europe and the U.S. to serve the global market. Now, PharmaEssentia is adding a site in Puerto Rico as part of its goal to expand outside Taiwan. By 2027, the company expects to have secured approvals for the new plant and started operations in Puerto Rico. PharmaEssentia said the site will serve as a manufacturing center for the U.S. and meet long-term global demand for BESREMi. According to its announcement, the company has identified the plant as a way to enhance supply security, increase operational flexibility, improve cost efficiency and ensure access to scalable manufacturing capacity to support future growth. PharmaEssentia follows Amgen and Eli Lilly in investing in drug production in Puerto Rico. Amgen and Lilly have long-standing presences on the island, an unincorporated territory which emerged as a pharma manufacturing hub after the U.S. created tax incentives. Activity fell when the U.S. withdrew the incentives 20 years ago, although Puerto Rico is now trying to use the Trump administration’s reshoring drive to regain momentum. Manufacturing As Amgen and Lilly Recommit, Puerto Rico Seeks To Regain Manufacturing Momentum After suffering in the wake of expired tax incentives for pharmas, the island is trying to take advantage of geopolitics to grow its drug manufacturing sector. February 3, 2026 · 4 min read · Nick Paul Taylor Read more BESREMi sales increased 44% year-over-year to $127.8 million in the third quarter. PharmaEssentia has filed for FDA approvals to support further growth, it said in a December announcement. The company plans to launch an injection pen version of BESREMi in the first half of 2026 to offer polycythemia vera patients a more convenient option. PharmaEssentia currently offers BESREMi as a single-dose prefilled syringe. The FDA is set to decide whether to authorize the drug in essential thrombocythemia by Aug. 30. The company estimates there are 148,000 people with essential thrombocythemia in the U.S., compared to 163,000 patients with polycythemia vera. PharmaEssentia has started a Phase III trial in pre-fibrotic/early primary myelofibrosis, a disease that affects 14,000 people in the U.S., putting the company on track to double its current addressable market. Global approvals have unlocked additional patients, with PharmaEssentia winning polycythemia vera authorizations in almost 50 markets and awaiting essential thrombocythemia regulatory decisions in countries including China and Japan. The expanding commercial opportunity has driven PharmaEssentia to look beyond its current focus on Taiwan for in-house manufacturing. The FDA authorized PharmaEssentia to make the BESREMi drug substance, ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft, and an intermediate at sites in Taiwan in 2021. The FDA redacted the plant where the final drug product is manufactured, filled, labeled and packaged from publicly available paperwork. PharmaEssentia said in its annual report that it outsources the filling of injections for the U.S. market to vendors in the U.S.