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News|Podcasts|November 4, 2026

Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: Nxera Licenses EP4 Agonist to AbbVie

How microgravity is opening new possibilities for drug R&D and manufacturing, a pharma funding roundup covers Boehringer Ingelheim’s up-to-$7 billion oncology licensing deal with Sino Biopharmaceutical and Nxera Pharma’s EP4 agonist deal with AbbVie, and CytoDyn’s Dr. Jay Lalezari on why Leronlimab isn’t just another repurposed drug.

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

In today’s Pharmaceutical Executive Daily, a new feature explores how microgravity in low Earth orbit is opening possibilities in drug discovery and manufacturing, a pharma funding roundup covers Boehringer Ingelheim’s up-to-$7 billion oncology licensing deal with Sino Biopharmaceutical and Nxera Pharma’s up-to-$1.37 billion EP4 agonist deal with AbbVie, and CytoDyn’s Dr. Jay Lalezari argues Leronlimab’s CCR5-blocking mechanism sets it apart from other repurposed drugs.

Authors Sophia Goeppinger and Raphael Roettgen examine how falling space operating costs and expanding orbital capacity are making low Earth orbit an economically viable environment for biopharma research and manufacturing. They outline how persistent microgravity alters biological and chemical processes in ways that are difficult or impossible to reproduce on Earth, mapping applications across the drug development life cycle from target discovery onward.

Two deals closed this week in oncology and immunology. Boehringer Ingelheim entered a multi-program option and license agreement with Sino Biopharmaceutical covering six preclinical antibody-drug conjugate and T-cell engager oncology programs, with Sino Biopharmaceutical receiving $358 million upfront and eligible for up to $7 billion in milestones. Separately, Nxera Pharma licensed its EP4 agonist program, including lead candidate NXE0033744 for inflammatory bowel disease, to AbbVie for a $100 million upfront payment plus up to $1.37 billion in milestones.

Finally, CytoDyn CEO and CMO Dr. Jay Lalezari explains why Leronlimab’s journey from HIV to Covid-19 to CCR5-positive colorectal cancer isn’t a case of opportunistic repurposing, but of the CCR5 receptor itself showing up across disease areas. He points to declines in circulating tumor DNA in early colorectal cancer data as evidence of a potentially paradigm-shifting mechanism, while cautioning that the result is specific to Leronlimab’s unique binding approach rather than a template other repurposed drugs could replicate.

Thanks for listening to Pharmaceutical Executive Daily. For more updates and in-depth analysis, visit PharmExec.com.

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The Promise of Microgravity for R&D and Manufacturing
The Promise of Microgravity for R&D and Manufacturing
As access to low Earth orbit expands, space-based research is opening possibilities in drug discovery, formulation, and manufacturing. In Part 1, the authors look at how microgravity changes biology and chemistry in ways that can’t be reproduced on Earth and where it fits from target discovery to life cycle management.
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