Story perspectives

Roche to Pay $2.3B for Bexobrutide Rights, Shares React

6/9/2026

Summary

Roche Acquires

Roche agreed to pay up to $2.3 billion for bexobrutideg rights, including $700 million upfront and a 60/40 development cost split with Nurix.
The companies will split U.S. profits equally while Roche will handle commercialization outside the United States.
The deal is slated to close in Q3 2026, prompting Roche shares to fall 1.4 % in Zurich and Nurix shares to rise 71 % in New York.

Summary

Roche Starts Phase-3

Roche will start Phase 3 trials of bexobrutideg for chronic lymphocytic leukemia in summer 2026.
Early data showed an 80.9% response rate in pre-treated CLL patients, including those on BTK and BCL-2 inhibitors.
The partnership will also run Phase 2 studies of bexobrutideg for multiple sclerosis and chronic urticaria.
Roche now includes the Nurix deal and a $20 million upfront agreement with C4 Therapeutics, which analysts say could reshape the $3.9 billion BTK inhibitor market.

Summary

Roche Advances

Bexobrutideg eliminates the entire BTK protein by recruiting the proteasome, unlike standard BTK inhibitors that block only kinase activity.
In a Phase 1a trial of 47 patients cut off in March 2025, Bexobrutideg achieved an 80.9% objective response rate.
Roche will use progression-free survival as the primary durability endpoint for the drug’s further development.
The CLL market is projected to expand from $12 billion in 2024 to $16 billion by 2035.

History

Historical Context

The FDA approved ibrutinib in November 2013, a BTK inhibitor, after Pharmacyclics acquired Celera’s BTK program for $2 million cash and $1 million stock in 2006. Johnson & Johnson’s 2011 co-development deal paid $150 million upfront, and AbbVie’s 2015 $21 billion purchase of Pharmacyclics cemented the drug’s market lead, expanding the global BTK inhibitor market.

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Roche Acquires

Roche agreed to pay up to $2.3 billion for bexobrutideg rights, including $700 million upfront and a 60/40 development cost split with Nurix.
The companies will split U.S. profits equally while Roche will handle commercialization outside the United States.
The deal is slated to close in Q3 2026, prompting Roche shares to fall 1.4 % in Zurich and Nurix shares to rise 71 % in New York.

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