Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: Rigel Pharmaceuticals Enters an Exclusive Global Licensing Agreement with Arvinas and Pfizer for Veppanu

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In today's Pharmaceutical Executive Daily, Rigel Pharmaceuticals enters an exclusive global licensing agreement with Arvinas and Pfizer for Veppanu, Eli Lilly releases data from two late-phase trials showing patients maintained meaningful weight loss after transitioning from higher-dose injectable GLP-1 therapies, and Hope Mueller argues that true pharmaceutical expertise is defined not just by having answers but by recognizing when you need a reset.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals has entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement with Arvinas and Pfizer to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Veppanu, vepdegestrant, the first FDA-approved PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera, or Protac, a novel class of cancer therapy that degrades disease-causing proteins rather than simply inhibiting them. Under the terms of the deal, Arvinas and Pfizer receive a $70 million upfront payment plus $15 million upon completion of development and manufacturing transition activities, up to $320 million in future regulatory and commercial milestones, and tiered royalties in the mid-teens to mid-20s on global net sales.

Eli Lilly has released detailed results from two late-phase obesity trials, Surmount-Maintain and Attain-Maintain, showing that patients with obesity were able to maintain substantial long-term weight loss after transitioning from higher-dose injectable incretin therapies to either Foundayo or a lower dose of Zepbound. In Attain-Maintain, participants who switched from Wegovy to Foundayo maintained all but 0.9 kilograms of their previously achieved weight loss over 52 weeks, while those switching from Zepbound to Foundayo maintained all but 5.0 kilograms, a meaningful difference that reflects Foundayo's single GLP-1 receptor mechanism compared to Zepbound's dual GIP and GLP-1 action. In Surmount-Maintain, patients who stepped down from maximum tolerated doses of Zepbound to a 5 milligram maintenance dose retained most of their prior weight reduction, regaining an average of 5.6 kilograms by week 112, while patients who remained on the maximum tolerated dose maintained all of their prior weight loss on average.

Finally, Hope Mueller offers a reflection on what pharmaceutical expertise actually demands in practice, arguing that true expertise is defined not only by the depth of one's knowledge but by the intellectual honesty to recognize when a problem has outpaced one's current frame of reference. Mueller contends that the instinct to project confidence in the face of uncertainty, common in high-stakes commercial and clinical environments, often prevents the kind of deliberate reset that produces better decisions, and that the most effective experts in pharma are those who have learned to treat that moment of being stuck not as a failure but as a signal that new information or a different perspective is required.

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