Trex Bio Inc. has entered into a multi-year research collaboration and exclusive worldwide license agreement with Eli Lilly & Co. to develop novel therapies for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases.

Researchers from Neoleukin Therapeutics Inc. have described NEO-TRA1, a novel CD25-targeted de novo non-α agonist of the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) designed to selectively expand Tregs.

Since the advent of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, the space has steadily grown hotter, a situation on which Anima Biotech Inc. has capitalized by way of a potential $580 million-plus deal with Abbvie Inc. to deploy mRNA biology modulators for three targets across oncology and Immunology.

Trex Bio Inc., which kicked off 2022 with a big pharma partnership, is back at it again, starting the new year with a potential $1.1 billion agreement with original backer Eli Lilly and Co. targeting immune-mediated diseases. Under the terms, Trexbio gets $55 million up front, with Lilly picking up an exclusive worldwide license for candidates from three programs.

Researchers at the University of Cape Town have compared the T-cell responses of individuals who were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis but were able to control the infection to those who developed active disease. The researchers wrote that the shared antigens in controllers “can be considered as high-priority targets for future vaccine development.” Their results were published online in Nature Medicine on Jan. 5, 2023. In their experiments, the team first sequenced the CDR3β region of the T-cell repertoire in a total of 166 individuals with M. tuberculosis infection who progressed to either TB or controlled infection.

After comparing the response to the two types of vaccines for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) based on its fusion protein (F), prefusion (pre-F) versus postfusion (post-F) vaccines, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Astrazeneca plc have demonstrated that targeting the pre-F protein led to better protection. No more bets on RSV immunization based on the post-F protein of the virus. Laboratories can now bet all on red for the pre-F technology.

The most common cause of anemia in chronically ill hospitalized patients is due to inflammatory anemia (IA) that is caused indirectly by diseases such as autoimmune, cancer, chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, or pulmonary disease. The precise and common etiology of these diseases involves hypercytokinemia that leads to excessive increases in hepcidin, a master regulator of iron homeostasis that blocks intestinal iron absorption when levels are too persistently high.

In one of the first large preclinical deals of 2023, Evoq Therapeutics Inc. is licensing for up to $685.5 million its Nanodisc technology to Gilead Sciences Inc. to develop new rheumatoid arthritis and lupus treatments. The potential payout includes up-front fees, an option exercise and milestone payments across both programs. Evoq also could receive tiered royalties on any sales that result.