Eli Lilly and Co.’s buyout of Ventyx Biosciences Inc. for $1.2 billion at the start of the year brought to the forefront NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inhibitors on which a handful of developers have been working, and research in the space continues to roll out, as with the paper published March 26 in Nature that delved into mechanisms that rev up the NLRP3 inflammasome.

In a deal that could be worth up to $1 billion for Suzhou Siran Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (Siranbio), GSK plc licensed exclusive worldwide rights to the siRNA oligonucleotide SA-030, which has recently entered phase I trials for cardiometabolic disease.

Shares of MBX Biosciences Inc. hit a 52-week high on preliminary phase I data for its MBX-4291, a GLP-1/GIP co-agonist prodrug for obesity. Though early and still blinded, findings from the trial showed promising efficacy, along with good tolerability and the potential for once-monthly dosing, factors that will likely be critical for MBX to compete in the crowded obesity space.