Daily Snap - 6. November 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
November 06, 2025

 

Good morning! Less than two years after its much-hyped debut, Arena BioWorks, the $500 million, billionaire-backed AI drug discovery venture, is shutting down, blaming “adverse biotech macro conditions.” The Boston outfit, funded by names like Michael Dell, a Subway heiress, and a Celtics owner, once promised to reinvent drug development by uniting discovery and company-building under one sleek AI-powered roof. Now, the lights are off, 50 people are out of work, and the investors are calling it the “only responsible action”. Apparently, conviction melts faster than confidence when it’s billionaire-funded.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

💸 Bispecific bucks: Eli Lilly has signed a new antibody development agreement with Ailux, a subsidiary of AI-driven drug discovery company XtalPi, in a deal potentially worth up to $345 million. The agreement grants Lilly access to Ailux’s bispecific antibody engineering platform, with upfront and near-term payments in the tens of millions. Lilly can nominate multiple target pairs for development and may license the platform for internal use. The deal includes potential milestone payments tied to development, regulatory, and commercial progress. This follows a 2023 small-molecule collaboration between Lilly and XtalPi and aligns with Lilly’s broader strategy to integrate AI into drug development.

🎯 Autoimmune target: Boehringer Ingelheim and CDR-Life have entered a global licensing agreement for the development of CDR111, a trispecific antibody-based molecule designed to engage T cells in targeting and eliminating B cells implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, and certain forms of arthritis. CDR-Life will receive up to $570 million, including approximately $48 million in upfront and near-term payments, along with tiered royalties on potential future sales. This deal builds on an existing collaboration focused on ophthalmic therapies and reflects Boehringer's strategic interest in expanding its immunology pipeline using CDR-Life’s trispecific M-gager platform.

🏳️ Drug flop: Amgen has discontinued its Phase 1b/3 Fortitude-102 trial evaluating bemarituzumab, a monoclonal antibody, in combination with chemotherapy and Opdivo for advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer, citing insufficient efficacy based on an internal data review. The decision follows lackluster Phase 3 results from the related Fortitude-101 trial, which showed only a modest survival benefit. Bemarituzumab was originally acquired through Amgen’s $1.9 billion purchase of Five Prime Therapeutics in 2021, with Zai Lab retaining rights in Greater China. While Fortitude-102 has ended, two other bemarituzumab studies Fortitude-103 and Fortitude-301 are still ongoing. Analysts called the trial termination disappointing but not unexpected.

🥗 R&D diet plan: As part of Novo Nordisk’s ongoing R&D restructuring, the company is halting development of two siRNA candidates for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), an RNA-based gout therapy, and two oncology assets targeting PD-L1 and STAT3. This move follows the earlier shutdown of its cell therapy unit, which included work on Parkinson’s, heart failure, and Type 1 diabetes. Novo’s CEO cited a strategic shift to refocus resources on core strengths, particularly in obesity and rare diseases.

🧾 Milestone math: Eli Lilly has exited the central nervous system (CNS) portion of its $960 million collaboration with Rigel Pharmaceuticals focused on RIPK1 inhibitors, initially agreed upon in 2021. The termination affects preclinical brain-penetrant candidates for CNS diseases, for which Lilly had been leading clinical development. Despite this, the broader partnership remains intact, with Lilly continuing development of the lead RIPK1 inhibitor, ocadusertib, now in a phase 2 trial for rheumatoid arthritis. The original deal included $125 million upfront and up to $835 million in milestones. RIPK1 inhibitors remain of industry interest, although setbacks have occurred in similar programs at Sanofi and Denali.

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