
Feature|Articles|August 21, 2026
Your Questions Answered: What This Week's Rare Disease and Specialty Drug News Tells Us About Where the Industry Is Heading
From an approval for a disease affecting 900 people worldwide to a new drug class in multiple myeloma and a $322 million biosimilar collaboration — this week's deals and approvals reveal a lot about how pharmaceutical strategy is evolving.
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Rare disease has never been more central to pharmaceutical strategy. This week produced a landmark approval for one of the world's rarest conditions, a new drug class in a well-established blood cancer, a stepped licensing deal for a rare genetic lung disease, and a major biosimilar collaboration involving a Chinese biotech. Taken together, they reflect a set of durable trends that are reshaping how drugs get developed, partnered, and approved. Here is what you need to know.
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Hansoh Pharma enters a collaboration and license agreement with Roche covering a broad portfolio of antibody-drug conjugate programs.

Gilead and Vir Biotechnology Enter a $1.87 billion collaboration to discover three PRO-XTEN dual-masked T-cell engagers aimed at solid tumors.

Roche licenses Rona Therapeutics’ ALK7-targeting RNAi candidate for obesity, while Pfizer partners with Enodia Therapeutics on Sec61 inhibitor discovery.

Alcon is acquiring Neurotech Pharmaceuticals to add the only FDA-approved MacTel cell therapy to its retina portfolio, while AI Proteins has enters a collaboration with Astellas to design novel miniprotein therapeutics.

METiS TechBio enters a collaboration with Eli Lilly to develop next-generation, tissue-specific lipid nanoparticle delivery technologies using METiS’s AI-driven lipid discovery platform.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, acquires Silence Therapeutics for $1.3 billion, Hansoh Pharma and Roche expand their ADC partnership in a deal worth over $15 billion, and an EMA panel backs Lilly’s Foundayo for obesity and type 2 diabetes in Europe.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, agrees to acquire Silence Therapeutics for roughly $1.3 billion, gaining a siRNA asset, divesiran.
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