Collaboration agreement expands Roche’s oncology pipeline and offers therapeutic potential across immunology and neurology.
Roche is licensing Nurix Therapeutics’ bexobrutideg (NX-5948), a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) degrader with best-in-class potential, through deal worth up to $2.3 billion.
The co-development and co-commercialisation agreement is set to advance clinical development targeting B-cell malignancies, with wider potential across immunology and neurology.
In immunology, this includes chronic spontaneous urticaria and multiple sclerosis in neurology.
Nurix will receive $700 million upfront and is also eligible for milestone payments.
Significant unmet need persists in this therapeutic area. Disease progression is common in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), due to multiple factors, including acquired resistance mutations. As limited treatment options remain following relapse, advancements are required.
Roche explained that bexobrutideg provides a different mechanism of action to standard-of-care BTK inhibitors. Instead of blocking BTK kinase activity, bexobrutideg harnesses the body’s natural protein disposal system, eliminating the BTK protein from cells, across immune cell types.
The approach is more efficient and provides greater tolerability compared to conventional BTK inhibitors. It could therefore overcome existing treatment-emergent resistance mutations and open the new therapeutic potential of targeting BTK.
Dr Arthur Sands, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nurix Therapeutics: “We believe Roche is the ideal partner to help translate the promise of targeted protein degradation into meaningful impact for patients worldwide. As a single agent, bexobrutideg has shown highly promising results in B cell malignancy clinical trials to date and we can now rapidly expand our phase III program enhanced by Roche’s global reach.”
A phase III trial for bexobrutideg is planned to commence this summer for the second-line treatment of CLL.
bexobrutideg could represent a major leap forward in the fight against complex blood cancers and other diseases. [Roche is] proud to join forces with Nurix to accelerate these potential breakthroughs”
Levi Garraway, Roche Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development said: “We believe bexobrutideg could represent a major leap forward in the fight against complex blood cancers and other diseases. We are proud to join forces with Nurix to accelerate these potential breakthroughs.”
The licensing and collaboration agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be finalised in Q3 of 2026.
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