Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: Eli Lilly and Abbisko Announce Drug Development Collaboration

Welcome to Pharmaceutical Executive Daily, your quick briefing on the top news shaping the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry.

Eli Lilly entered into a new strategic research collaboration with Abbisko Therapeutics, deepening a partnership that dates back to a similar agreement the two companies signed in 2022. Under the terms of the deal, Abbisko will deploy its early-stage drug discovery platform and R&D ecosystem to advance potential new treatments across multiple targets selected by Lilly. Lilly will provide upfront payments, and Abbisko will be eligible to earn tiered milestone payments tied to development, regulatory, and commercial progress. The collaboration is the latest in a series of moves by Lilly to access external discovery platforms as it continues to build out its pipeline — the company has also completed its acquisition of Centessa Pharmaceuticals to advance treatments for sleep-wake disorders, and reached an agreement earlier this year to acquire Ajax Therapeutics and its lead oncology asset targeting myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera.

Next, Pharmaceutical Executive spoke with Kyle Smith, president and chief operating officer of Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, about how the company's additive manufacturing platform uses 3D printing technology to accelerate drug production. Smith explained that the process begins with extensive upfront characterization of the design space—mapping powders, liquids, compatibility issues, and critical process parameters—so that by the time manufacturing begins, there is already a high level of confidence in the outcome. Once on the machine, Aprecia captures up to 22 real-time data points per tablet as it is built layer by layer, using tools such as NIR probes and laser cameras to monitor powder content, liquid volume, and tablet quality—all traceable back to an individual tablet. That eliminates the traditional lag of sending batches to the lab and waiting for analytical results, allowing teams to iterate rapidly and move to the next set of experiments much faster.

Finally, a new commentary from life sciences industry advisor Partha Anbil examines the economics of the 340B Drug Pricing Program and the strategic imperatives it presents for pharmaceutical manufacturers in 2026. The program, originally designed in 1992 to stretch federal resources for safety-net providers, has grown into a dominant force in the US pharmaceutical market—reaching a record $81.4 billion in discounted purchases in 2024, a 23% increase over the prior year, and making 340B the second-largest federal drug program when measured at list prices. Anbil examines the role of hospital vertical integration and the explosion of contract pharmacy arrangements in driving that growth, the ongoing legal battles between manufacturers and covered entities over rebate models and distribution restrictions, and the fragmented state-by-state regulatory landscape that has emerged as federal action has stalled. For manufacturers, Anbil argues that 340B is no longer a peripheral compliance issue but a central factor in gross-to-net revenue management, pricing strategy, and market access—and one that demands investment in data infrastructure and active engagement in the policy debate over the program's future.

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