The Repertoire partnership is Lilly’s second immunology play of the year, after the acquistion of Ventyx in early January for a pipeline of NLRP3 assets.
Following the takeover of Ventyx Biosciences earlier this month, Eli Lilly is pumping more money into immunology. On Thursday, the pharma entered into a strategic alliance with Repertoire Immune Medicines to advance novel T cell-targeting therapies for autoimmune conditions, with $85 million upfront.
Lilly has promised its new Massachusetts partner up to $1.84 billion in certain development and commercial milestones. In return for the investment, the pharma will be able to leverage Repertoire’s proprietary DECODE platform to develop and advance tolerizing therapies for yet-undisclosed autoimmune indications.
Repertoire uses DECODE to find the point of interaction between a T cell and its target antigen, painting a clear picture of the immune response in diseases. This approach results in therapies that can potentially “restore immune homeostasis,” according to Thursday’s release, leading to “durable remission of their disease without the generalized immune suppression” typical of other autoimmune medicines.
Under the terms of the agreement, Repertoire will be responsible for research activities until a candidate is nominated, after which Lilly will take over and lead clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory filing and commercialization. It is unclear how many programs the partners will work on together.
If the alliance results in a commercial product, Repertoire will be entitled to tiered royalties on net sales, according to the announcement.
Despite being only a few weeks into 2026, Lilly has already been a prolific dealmaker. On January 6, the pharma unveiled a multi-year collaboration with long-time partner Nimbus Therapeutics, putting up to $1.3 billion on the line for a small-molecule, early-stage oral drug for obesity.
A few days later, Lilly made its first major immunology move of the year, dropping $1.2 billion to acquire Ventyx Biosciences and its oral medicines for inflammatory diseases. At the core of this takeover is the biotech’s NLRP3 assets, which target a key player in the inflammatory pathway. NLRP3 had been a blind spot in Lilly’s pipeThe transaction is expected to complete in the first half.
Lilly is the third Big Pharma caller looking to leverage Repertoire’s DECODE technology. In April 2024, the biotech snagged a contract with Bristol Myers Squibb worth a potential $1.8 billion to advance vaccines for autoimmune diseases. A year later, Roche’s Genentech offered up to $765 million, likewise to use DECODE for autoimmune development.
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