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Nurix Therapeutics, Inc.CIK 0001549595 · Pharmaceutical Preparations
When used in this report, unless otherwise indicated, “Nurix,” “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refers to Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries. About this business →
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About Nurix Therapeutics, Inc.
Source: Item 1 (Business) from the 10-K filed January 28, 2026. Description as filed by the company with the SEC.
Item 1. Business
When used in this report, unless otherwise indicated, “Nurix,” “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refers to Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.
Overview
We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted protein degradation medicines, the next frontier in innovative drug design aimed at improving treatment options for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases. Powered by a fully artificial intelligence (AI)-integrated discovery engine capable of tackling any protein class, and coupled with leading ligase expertise, Nurix has built a significant advantage in translating the science of protein degradation into clinical advancements with the aim of establishing degrader-based treatments at the forefront of patient care. Our wholly owned, clinical stage pipeline includes three investigational drug candidates designed with the goal to be first-in-class or best-in-class therapeutics: bexobrutideg (NX-5948), a highly selective degrader of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK); zelebrudomide (NX-2127), a dual degrader of BTK and transcription factors IKZF1(Ikaros) and IKZF3 (Aiolos); and NX-1607, an inhibitor of Casitas B-lineage lymphoma proto-oncogene B (CBL-B), an E3 ligase that regulates activation of multiple immune cell types including T cells and NK cells. We are also advancing multiple potentially first-in-class or best-in-class degraders and degrader antibody conjugates (DACs) in our preclinical pipeline. Our partnered drug discovery pipeline consists of a clinical stage degrader of IRAK4 (NX-0479/GS-6791), a preclinical stage degrader of STAT6, currently in investigational new drug application (IND), enabling studies, and multiple currently undisclosed targets under collaboration agreements with Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead), Sanofi S.A. (Sanofi) and Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer). Within these collaborations, we retain certain options for co-development, co-commercialization and profit sharing in the United States for multiple drug candidates. Both our wholly owned and partnered pipelines are driven by our DEL-AI discovery engine which employs advanced machine learning to enable all aspects of discovery, starting with DNA encoded library (DEL) hit-finding and degrader design, followed by automated chemistry synthesis and direct-to-biology screening and optimization, to rapidly generate degraders and DACs as new chemical entity drug candidates. By leveraging hundreds of billions of DEL compound binding signatures derived from thousands of DEL affinity screens collected from a diverse set of highly validated protein targets, our DEL-AI engine can prospectively identify binders as starting points for drug discovery for virtually any pharmaceutically relevant target.
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Our Clinical and Preclinical Development Pipeline
Our wholly owned pipeline of drug candidates comprises three clinical stage oncology programs and multiple preclinical stage Targeted Protein Degrader (TPD) and Degrader Antibody Conjugate (DAC) programs spanning the therapeutic areas of oncology, inflammation and immunology. Our partnered pipeline further expands our reach into rheumatoid arthritis and Type 2 inflammation, as well as solid tumor oncology via multiple undisclosed programs. This combination of wholly owned and partnered portfolios across a range of indications and modalities demonstrates our ability to discover and advance novel medicines, many of which selectively target disease proteins previously thought to be undruggable. The following chart summarizes our clinical and preclinical pipelines and ongoing clinical studies:
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Clinical Pipeline
Our portfolio of targeted protein degraders of the B‑cell signaling protein BTK comprises bexobrutideg, an investigational, orally bioavailable, highly selective BTK degrader for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies and potentially autoimmune diseases, and zelebrudomide, an investigational, orally bioavailable degrader that simultaneously degrades BTK and two well-characterized cereblon neosubstrates IKZF1 (Ikaros) and IKZF3 (Aiolos) that are clinically validated transcription factor targets for relapsed or refractory B‑cell malignancies.
Status of Bexobrutideg: We are currently conducting a Phase 2 study of bexobrutideg in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL having failed three previous lines of therapy, specifically a covalent BTK inhibitor (cBTKi), a BCL2 inhibitor (BCL2i) and a non-covalent BTK inhibitor (ncBTKi). This study is designed as a potentially pivotal trial for Accelerated Approval in the United States and commenced in October 2025 upon agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of the 600mg, once daily dose of bexobrutideg as determined by our Phase 1b study of both a 200mg and a 600mg dose in patients in accordance with the FDA’s Project Optimus. In January 2024, the FDA granted Fast Track designation for bexobrutideg for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) after at least two lines of therapy, including a BTK inhibitor and a B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) inhibitor. In November 2024, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted Priority Medicine (PRIME) designation for bexobrutideg in CLL or SLL after at least a BTK inhibitor and a BCL-2 inhibitor. In December 2024, the FDA granted Fast Track designation for bexobrutideg for the treatment of adult patients with Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM) after at least two lines of therapy, including a BTK inhibitor.
Status of Zelebrudomide: We are currently conducting a Phase 1a/1b dose-escalation and cohort expansion study of zelebrudomide in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies. We previously initiated Phase 1b expansion cohorts for patients with relapsed CLL, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Enrollment was paused in 2023 due to a partial clinical hold stemming from a manufacturing change designed to produce a chirally controlled form of zelebrudomide. Enrollment of new patients in this clinical trial recommenced in August 2024 following resolution of the partial hold by the FDA. Dose escalation with the new drug form is ongoing with a focus on patients with aggressive forms of B-cell lymphoma, such as DLBCL and MCL.
In addition to our BTK degrader portfolio, we are also advancing a novel immune-oncology inhibitor of the E3 ligase CBL-B. CBL-B is a RING-type E3 ligase that regulates the activation of multiple immune cell types including T cells and NK cells through protein degradation. NX-1607 is an orally bioavailable inhibitor of CBL-B that has the potential to reduce T cell anergy and promote anti-cancer immune cell activity. NX-1607 is currently being explored in a variety of solid tumor indications.
Status of NX-1607: We are currently conducting a Phase 1a/1b dose-escalation and cohort expansion study of NX-1607 in patients with a range of oncology indications. This study also includes a cohort within the Phase 1a dose escalation study testing NX-1607 in combination with paclitaxel, a taxane chemotherapy commonly used across a range of relapsed and refractory solid tumor indications. In 2022, NX-1607 was awarded an Innovation Passport from the United Kingdom (UK) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to accelerate time to market and facilitate patient access to novel drugs to treat serious and life-threatening diseases.
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Preclinical Pipeline
In addition to our clinical stage drug candidates, we are advancing multiple preclinical-stage programs within our protein degradation portfolio, both on our own and with partners, by developing new targeted protein degraders and degrader antibody conjugates for several therapeutic indications that currently lack treatment options or where current therapies are ineffective. These existing and future programs have the potential to provide patients with better options in therapeutic indications with significant unmet needs, including cancer, inflammation, autoimmunity and other challenging therapeutic areas.
We have entered into several revenue generating collaborations with large biopharmaceutical companies, including Gilead, Sanofi and Pfizer, to leverage our DEL-AI platform for drug discovery. As of November 30, 2025, we have received a total of $482.0 million in non-dilutive financing from our collaborators, and we are eligible to receive up to $6.1 billion in potential future fees and milestone payments, as well as royalties on future product sales. We retain certain options for co-development, co-commercialization and profit sharing in the United States for multiple drug candidates pursuant to these collaborations.
Corporate Strategy
Our strategy is to discover and develop breakthrough therapies for patients with significant unmet clinical need by developing highly differentiated degrader-based medicines that alter or remove disease-causing or disease-associated biological targets that to date have been ineffectively drugged or have been considered undruggable with existing modalities. The key elements of our strategy are to:
•Advance our lead program, bexobrutideg, into late-stage clinical development in CLL and potentially other B-cell malignancies. Enrollment is ongoing in our Phase 2 clinical trial of bexobrutideg in adults with relapsed or refractory CLL. In 2026, we intend to commence enrollment of a suite of additional trials designed to support the potential future registration of the drug in multiple regulatory jurisdictions. We plan to leverage the Fast Track designation from the FDA in CLL and WM as well as the PRIME designation from the EMA to accelerate the clinical development and registrational path for bexobrutideg in oncology.
•Explore the therapeutic applications of bexobrutideg, for the treatment of patients with diseases caused by inflammation and autoimmunity. BTK mediates signaling downstream of the B-cell receptor (BCR), toll-like receptors (TLRs), and Fc receptors (FcRs), making it an attractive therapeutic target in antibody-mediated autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Targeting BTK can reduce the production of new antibodies and mitigate inflammation induced by a variety of inflammatory signals, addressing key challenges in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. We believe that bexobrutideg may offer unique advantages over currently available BTK inhibitors in these disease indications by addressing both the enzymatic and scaffold activities of BTK, which are key to its function. In 2025, we expanded the current Phase 1b trial in patients with CLL to include patients who are also suffering from immune-mediated cytopenias such as anemia, a common co-morbidity associated with CLL. In 2026, we may further explore the utility of bexobrutideg in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with a separate clinical program which will require an IND with a separate division at the FDA.
•Continue development of zelebrudomide through dose escalation with a focus on aggressive lymphomas including MCL and DLBCL. Enrollment of new patients in our Phase 1a/1b clinical trial of NX-2127 has continued in adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies. In 2026, we expect to define doses to enable a Phase 1b cohort expansion.
•Continue development of NX-1607 through dose escalation in a range of solid tumor indications. Enrollment is ongoing in our Phase 1a/1b trial for NX-1607 in adults with multiple solid tumor types. In 2025, we continued dose escalation and expect to define doses and potential indications to enable a Phase 1b cohort expansion in 2026.
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•Advance our portfolio of preclinical programs to generate development candidates and license agreements for our partnered pipeline. Our partnership efforts are focused on the advancement of a robust and sustainable pipeline in collaboration with our partners Gilead, Sanofi, and Pfizer. In our more mature partnerships with Gilead and Sanofi, multiple disclosed and undisclosed programs are advancing through lead optimization, IND-enablement and Phase 1 clinical studies. In March 2023, Gilead licensed our IRAK4 TPD program under the collaboration, and in April 2025 we announced FDA clearance of an IND for GS-6791/NX-0479 a novel IRAK4 degrader for inflammatory conditions. In addition, in March of 2024, Gilead extended the research term of multiple TPD programs. In April 2024, Sanofi extended its research term for a STAT6 targeted protein degrader and in June 2025 licensed a development candidate, NX-3911, and commenced IND enabling studies. In addition, Sanofi licensed a second program in May 2025 for an undisclosed target. In our partnership with Pfizer, which was announced in September 2023 under an agreement with Seagen, Inc., we have achieved three preclinical milestones to date, qualifying for $15.0 million in milestone payments. We expect to earn multiple additional preclinical and clinical milestones across our three active partnerships in 2026, which may allow us to secure additional license and development candidate events in 2026 and subsequent years.
•Advance our proprietary portfolio of preclinical programs toward additional INDs. The leading edge of our proprietary preclinical portfolio includes our pan-mutant BRAF program, which is designed to specifically target and degrade multiple mutant forms of the BRAF protein for the treatment of solid tumors including melanoma, colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Lead compounds from this program show potency against the most common class I V600E BRAF mutation, but also potently degrade a broad spectrum of other BRAF driver mutations including those characterized as class II or III, all while sparing wild-type BRAF activity. The series of mutant BRAF degrader compounds has been optimized for oral bioavailability and CNS exposure, a profile that is critical in the setting of relapsed BRAF-driven disease. We believe our degraders will be clinically advantageous over existing therapies based on in vivo preclinical models that show improved potency against clinically relevant BRAF mutations and superior efficacy compared to other clinical and preclinical BRAF and RAF agents. Our BRAF degraders are likely to provide a greater therapeutic window compared to existing BRAF agents because they avoid paradoxical pathway activation while preserving normal wild-type BRAF function. We believe that a pan-mutant BRAF degrader will provide more sustained MAPK pathway suppression through its catalytic mechanism of action with the potential to target relapsed and refractory BRAF-mutant positive class I patient populations as well as class II and III BRAF patients for which there exists no approved BRAF therapies. In addition to targeted protein degraders of mutant BRAF, we are advancing multiple other proprietary programs targeting mutant proteins or other disease-drivers that are currently at various stages of preclinical discovery from DNA-encoded library screening to lead optimization and development candidate nomination.
•Build a leading platform for discovery of degrader antibody conjugates. DACs combine the selective and potent catalytic activity of targeted protein degraders with the cell- and tissue-specific delivery capabilities of antibodies. DACs represent the next generation of antibody drug conjugate technology that is designed to allow for the application of uniquely targeted payloads that can deliver more precise drug action while also providing multiple layers of cellular and molecular selectivity to potentially achieve both enhanced safety and improved efficacy. As part of our strategy to accelerate DAC discovery and demonstrate value, we have partnered with Pfizer, the leading pharmaceutical company in the antibody drug conjugate space, to advance this cutting-edge modality. By combining Nurix’s experience in machine learning, automated chemistry and targeted protein degraders with Pfizer’s expertise in antibody conjugate design, optimization and development, we believe we can achieve technical synergies that could allow us to redefine the application of antibody conjugates for not only oncology but also non-oncology indications.
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•Grow our proprietary pipeline by expanding the capabilities of our DEL-AI platform. Targeted protein degradation is rapidly becoming the therapeutic modality of choice for an increasing list of pharmaceutical targets. To unlock the full potential of TPD, it is essential to have ready access to chemical starting points for biological pathways and targets that historically have been considered undruggable but now are rendered tractable by this more versatile approach. We believe we are uniquely positioned to identify novel chemical starting points to undruggable proteins and ligases. We have developed a suite of AI tools applicable across the breadth of our technical workflows, but with a specific focus on prospective ligand discovery informed by our years of accumulated DEL screening data and know-how. Using our SP3-enriched, proprietary DNA-encoded libraries and complementary E3 ligase-enriched DEL screening data, we have created a leading AI-powered platform which is designed to quickly generate multiple potential starting points for degrader drugs, thereby opening access to hundreds of unprecedented drug targets and target families. Further, the predictive power of this platform extends our drug development capabilities into a broadening range of induced proximity modalities including novel molecular glue degraders and protein stabilizers. Our DEL-AI platform can reduce reliance on serial wet-lab protein chemistry and screening efforts on challenging targets and instead can provide nearly instant access to drug-like and selective DEL binders to potentially any target or target class. By employing advanced machine learning models informed by empirical degrader assay datasets that we have amassed, which include a compendium of in vitro and in vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic readouts from tens of thousands of targeted protein degrader compounds, we have the ability to reduce the number of design-make-test cycles in our optimization campaigns, eliminate optimization bottlenecks, and shorten the overall project timelines required to achieve desired TPD target product profiles. We plan to continue to invest in and leverage our purpose-built machine learning capabilities and DEL-AI research engine, which we believe will enable us to enhance our position as a leader in degrader drug discovery and deliver a robust and sustainable drug pipeline.
•Explore additional strategic collaborations to maximize the commercial potential of our existing pipeline assets as well as our DEL-AI and DAC platforms. As of November 30, 2025, we have received a total of $482.0 million in non-dilutive funding from our collaborations, which has enabled us to invest in our own research and development activities. Under our Gilead, Sanofi and Pfizer collaborations, we have the potential to receive up to $6.1 billion in future fees and milestone payments, as well as royalties on future sales, and we retain certain options for co-development, co-commercialization and profit sharing in the United States for multiple drug candidates. We currently retain worldwide development and commercialization rights to our BTK and CBL-B clinical portfolios as well as numerous preclinical-stage projects, including our BRAF program. We intend to become a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company by building a targeted sales force in the United States and potentially other countries to support the commercialization of our approved drug candidates. In addition, we plan to selectively pursue technology collaborations and commercialization partnerships with partners whose capabilities complement our own, while retaining significant commercial rights in key geographic territories.
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Our Clinical Programs
BTK’s role in B-cell malignancy
BTK is a key component of the B-cell receptor signaling pathway and has been clinically validated as a target in the treatment of B-cell malignancies, most notably in CLL but also in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). It is estimated that in 2024, in the United States, over 20,000 patients were diagnosed with CLL and over 80,000 patients were diagnosed with NHLs. Approximately 85% of NHLs are a result of B-cell malignancies. The natural progression of NHL varies widely and takes multiple forms, ranging from aggressive subtypes such as DLBCL, to more indolent forms such as follicular lymphoma (FL).
Background on BTK inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs for B-cell malignancies
The first generation BTK inhibitor Imbruvica, or ibrutinib, is approved for the treatment of CLL, WM and chronic graft versus host disease. Second generation BTK inhibitors include Calquence, or acalabrutinib, which is approved for use in CLL and MCL, and Brukinsa, or zanubrutinib, which is approved for use in CLL, MCL, WM and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). These BTK inhibitors bind covalently to cysteine C481 of the BTK protein and irreversibly inhibit BTK; however, all have some off-target binding to other kinases, which leads to unwanted side effects. In addition, acquired resistance, most commonly through mutations in C481, may limit the long-term efficacy of first and second generation covalent BTK inhibitors. A number of noncovalent BTK inhibitors are currently being investigated in clinical trials as potential therapies for patients with relapsed and refractory disease, including Jaypirca, or pirtobrutinib, which was recently approved for use in CLL and MCL. However, noncovalent inhibitors are also subject to acquired resistance, and treatment with such agents has led to the discovery of a broad range of new resistance mutations. Based on reported sales to date, we estimate that sales of BTK inhibitors were approximately $10.6 billion in 2024.
BTK degraders possess several unique properties that offer potential advantages over inhibitors:
•Addresses scaffold function of BTK. Removal of the BTK protein rather than inactivating the kinase domain addresses the scaffolding activity of BTK, more completely eliminating the signaling activity of both wild-type and mutant forms of BTK.
•Address BTK inhibitor resistance mutations through event-driven pharmacology. BTK degraders do not require strong and prolonged binding to BTK to trigger degradation, which increases the ability of degraders to act on mutated BTK and may decrease the probability of forming new resistance mutations.
•Catalytic activity. A single degrader molecule is able to trigger degradation of thousands of BTK target proteins sequentially without the need to be constantly bound to the target.
We believe that targeted protein degradation of BTK may be a superior approach to existing covalent or noncovalent BTK inhibitors as well as in the setting of resistance mutations to both covalent and noncovalent inhibitors.
Immunomodulatory drugs, including Revlimid, or lenalidomide, and Pomalyst, or pomalidomide, are analogs of Thalomid, or thalidomide. These drugs possess several anti-tumor properties, including anti-angiogenic and anti-proliferative effects. They also have multiple effects on the immune system, including the enhancement of T-cell mediated and NK-cell mediated immunity. Revlimid, the market leader in this class by global sales, was first approved in 2006 for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In May 2019, Revlimid in combination with Rituxan received a supplemental indication approval for previously treated FL, MZL and MCL, and in August 2020, Revlimid in combination with Monjuvi received a supplemental indication in DLBCL, thus validating the importance of this drug class in these indications. Based on reported sales to date, global sales of this drug class, including Revlimid and Pomalyst, peaked in 2021 at approximately $16.2 billion, prior to the introduction of generic competition. Subsequent to their approval and successful commercialization, studies demonstrated that these immunomodulatory drugs exert their therapeutic effect by triggering the degradation of specific proteins including Ikaros and Aiolos through the E3 ligase activity of cereblon, and hence were identified retrospectively as the first approved drugs to harness the activity an E3 ligase as a molecular glue.
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Recently published studies have reported early clinical data showing that combining a BTK inhibitor with an immunomodulatory drug may have the potential to augment clinical activity of certain standard of care agents in some hematologic malignancies such as non-germinal center B-cell like (non-GCB) DLBCL. Further, earlier scientific publications have described synthetic lethality in a DLBCL cell line treated with both ibrutinib and lenalidomide. By targeting both BTK and cereblon-mediated immunomodulatory pathways simultaneously, it is believed that the survival mechanisms driven by accumulated mutations within certain cancers can be overcome, thereby preventing escape and disease relapse. This may be especially effective if each pathway not only has different functions but also shares certain critical components. One possible intersection pathway is the suppression of interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4), a member of a family of transcription factors leading to a cell-lethal increase in interferon production. The early clinical study referenced above was particularly noteworthy because, prior to that study, few combinations have produced promising results in DLBCL. The findings suggest that simultaneous degradation of BTK combined with cereblon-mediated immunomodulatory activity by a single agent could produce an additive or synergistic effect in certain B-cell malignancies.
Potential advantages of BTK degraders
We have conducted extensive preclinical studies of our two clinical stage BTK degraders. We have demonstrated that both bexobrutideg and zelebrudomide can induce BTK degradation and inhibit tumor growth with oral administration in xenograft mouse models implanted with both wild-type and ibrutinib-resistant lymphoma cell lines. We have also demonstrated the ability of both bexobrutideg and zelebrudomide to degrade BTK in circulating B cells of non-human primates and in B-cell lymphoma patients following once daily oral dosing in ongoing Phase 1 trials. We have specifically designed bexobrutideg to degrade BTK with limited or no degradation of cereblon neosubstrates.
We have designed zelebrudomide as a dual degrader of BTK and the cereblon neosubstrates Ikaros and Aiolos, for potential applications in indications where adding immunomodulatory activity may be beneficial.
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We have optimized bexobrutideg and zelebrudomide to be able to degrade both wild-type BTK and the C481S variant of BTK that has been identified as the most common mutation in patients who have become resistant to ibrutinib therapy over time. Both agents have subsequently demonstrated the ability to degrade additional mutant variants of BTK associated with resistance to BTK inhibitors including L528W, T474I, M437R and V416L.
In our model of DLBCL cell line (TM8) harboring the most common resistance mutations, both bexobrutideg and zelebrudomide retained activity against all of the common clinical BTK inhibitor resistance mutations, while all tested inhibitors demonstrated a major decrease in activity against at least one of these prevalent mutations. The figure below shows a heat map of the relative activity of bexobrutideg compared to a panel of both covalent and non-covalent BTK inhibitors.
Clinical development studies for bexobrutideg
We are studying the pharmacology, safety, and clinical activity of bexobrutideg in multiple subtypes of relapsed and refractory B-cell malignancies, including those in which ibrutinib has shown only modest effects or is ineffective, as in the case of CLL patients with BTK inhibitor resistance mutations.
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As illustrated in the diagram below, we are conducting a Phase 1a/1b dose-escalation and cohort expansion study of bexobrutideg in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL and NHL. We completed enrollment in the Phase 1a portion and commenced the Phase 1b portion of the trial in the second half of 2024 randomized between two once daily (QD) doses of 200 mg and 600 mg in patients with CLL. Additional cohorts of patients with CLL, MZL, FL, and WM were initiated at the 600mg QD dose. The patients in the study represent a heavily pre-treated population with a variety of previous treatments. Some patients also have mutations associated with BTK inhibitor resistance and other high risk molecular and clinical features. The study is currently enrolling in the United States, the UK, and in selected sites in Europe.
Bexobrutideg Phase 1 Clinical Study Design
Bexobrutideg Phase 1a clinical findings in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Clinical findings from the bexobrutideg Phase 1a trial were presented at the 67th American Society of Hematology annual meeting in December 2025 (ASH 2025). These results included safety findings from a total of 126 CLL/SLL patients treated at all doses and 70 CLL/SLL patients treated at the 600mg dose, as of the September 19, 2025 data cut, and included efficacy findings from among the 47 CLL response evaluable patients enrolled in the Phase 1a at that time. Bexobrutideg was well tolerated across all doses evaluated, and safety findings in the CLL/SLL cohort were consistent with the overall population as well as previous safety analyses (see table below).
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Bexobrutideg Comparable AE Profile for Patients Overall and at the 600mg Dose Selected per Project Optimus
a Purpura/contusion includes episodes of contusion or purpura; b Aggregate of ‘neutrophil count decreased’ or ‘neutropenia’; c Fatigue was transient; d Aggregate of ‘thrombocytopenia’ and ‘platelet count decreased’; e Aggregate of ‘rash’ and ‘rash maculopapular’ and ‘rash pustular’; f Aggregate of ‘COVID-19’ and ‘COVID-19 pneumonia’ AE, adverse event; RP2D, recommended Phase 2 dose; TEAE, treatment-emergent adverse event
Among the efficacy evaluable patients with CLL/SLL in the Phase 1a portion of the study (n=47), bexobrutideg treatment resulted in an objective response rate (ORR) of 83.0% across all doses tested including two complete responses (4.3%), with the majority of responses occurring at the first assessment (Week 8). The median progression free survival (PFS) was 22.1 months across all doses tested (50-600 mg, see tables below). Responses were observed across all populations regardless of prior treatment, baseline mutations, high-risk molecular features, or central nervous system (CNS) involvement. This includes patients with baseline BTK mutations associated with treatment resistance to both covalent and non-covalent BTK inhibitors. Robust BTK degradation was observed in all patients, including those with baseline BTK mutations.
Bexobrutideg Phase 1a Overall Response Assessment
a Patients who were treated with bexobrutideg having ≥1 post-baseline disease assessment or documented clinical PD. b Objective response rate was evaluated using iwCLL criteria and included CR + PR + PR-L. c Kaplan-Meier estimate
Emerging data from the randomized Phase 1b cohorts points to higher ORR and longer progression free survival at the 600 mg RP2D compared to the 200 mg dose.
Preliminary Efficacy in Phase 1b Randomized Cohort of 200mg vs. 600mg
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a Objective response rate includes CR + nPR + PR + PR-L. CI, confidence interval; ORR, objective response rate; PFS progression free survival
Bexobrutideg Pivotal Phase 2 commencement
In October 2025, enrollment was initiated in the DAYBreak CLL-201 Phase 2 study (NCT07221500), evaluating bexobrutideg at the 600 mg recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D) and designed to support accelerated approval of bexobrutideg in triple-exposed CLL/SLL patients (post cBTKi, ncBTKi and BCL-2i).
DAYBreak Phase 2 Study Designed to Support Accelerated Approval
r/r CLL, relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia; ORR, objective response rate; iwCLL, International Workshop on CLL; IRC, Independent Review Committee; QD,once daily; SLL, small lymphocytic lymphoma; cBTKi, covalent BTK inhibitor; ncBTKi, non-covalent BTK inhibitor; BCL-2i, BCL-2 inhibitor
Bexobrutideg Phase 1 clinical findings in Waldenström macroglobulinemia
Clinical findings from the bexobrutideg Phase 1 trial in patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) were also presented at the 67th American Society of Hematology annual meeting in December 2025 (ASH 2025). These results, also from the September 19, 2025 data cut, included the baseline characteristics of the 31 patients with WM enrolled across both the Phase 1a and Phase 1b portions of the trial, primary efficacy analysis in all response-evaluable patients, and duration on study for all 31 patients. Among the 28 patients who were evaluable for response the ORR was 75.0% and for 23 patients with two or more response assessments the ORR was 82.6%. A steady reduction in IgM levels occurred in most patients starting from the first IgM assessment (four weeks) which continued to deepen at eight weeks and beyond. The median duration of response was not reached with 14 patients continuing on treatment for more than six months.
Clinical development of zelebrudomide
We are studying the pharmacology, safety and clinical activity of zelebrudomide in multiple subtypes of relapsed and refractory B‑cell malignancies, including CLL, DLBCL, MCL, MZL and FL. We plan to focus development in NHL indications where zelebrudomide shows evidence of compelling clinical activity and where there is high unmet need.
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The Phase 1a/1b dose escalation and cohort expansion study was initiated in 2021. Enrollment was paused in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to a partial clinical hold stemming from a manufacturing change designed to produce a chirally controlled form of zelebrudomide. Enrollment of new patients in the zelebrudomide clinical trial recommenced in August 2024, following resolution of the partial hold by the FDA. Dose escalation with the new drug form is ongoing with a focus on patients with aggressive forms of B-cell lymphoma. As illustrated in the diagram below, the Phase 1a/1b trial is currently evaluating doses of the new drug product ranging from 100 mg to 450 mg, with potential expansion cohorts for patients with DLBCL, MCL, FL, MZL, and WM. Patients enrolled in the clinical study who are deriving clinical benefit on the original drug product may continue to receive treatment in accordance with the ongoing study protocol, however all new patients are being treated with the new drug product.
Zelebrudomide Phase 1 Study Design
aPlanned number of evaluable patients (i.e., meeting DLT evaluability criteria); bPlanned number of evaluable patients (i.e., meeting efficacy evaluability criteria)
CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia; DLBCL, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; DLT, dose-limiting toxicity; FL, follicular lymphoma; MCL, mantle cell lymphoma; MTD, maximum tolerated dose; MZL, marginal zone lymphoma; PD, pharmacodynamics; PK, pharmacokinetics; PCNSL, primary central nervous system lymphoma; SLL, small lymphocytic lymphoma; WM, Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia
Zelebrudomide Clinical findings
Positive data from the zelebrudomide clinical study was presented at the 65th ASH annual meeting in December 2023 (ASH 2023) and ASH 2024, in patients with NHL and CLL, confirming a manageable safety profile that is consistent with previous reports for BTK-targeted and immunomodulatory therapies.
BTK degradation was demonstrated at all dose levels in patient samples, as shown in the figure below.
Source: Danilov et al., ASH 2023, Poster #4463
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Efficacy findings showed promising clinical activity: For patients with NHL, encouraging and durable responses were observed, including two complete responses and two partial responses, each at week eight. For patients with CLL, despite a median of five prior lines of treatment and BTK mutations present in 36% of patients, zelebrudomide treatment resulted in an objective overall response rate of 40.7%, including partial responses in 11 patients, with treatment ongoing in 13 patients. Tumor shrinkage and clinical responses were observed in patients regardless of prior lines of therapy or baseline BTK mutations.
Zelebrudomide NHL efficacy
Zelebrudomide CLL efficacy
Source: Danilov et al, ASH 2023, Poster #4463
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Background on CBL-B as a regulator of T-cell activation
T cells are central to the cell-mediated adaptive immune response. Their activation, expansion, and function require carefully balanced positive and negative feedback mechanisms at each step. Multiple factors impair effective anti-tumor responses, including insufficient tumor antigen expression, defective antigen presentation, and the presence of inhibitory signals (e.g., immune checkpoints, suppressive factors, or T-cell exhaustion).
CBL-B is an E3 ubiquitin ligase expressed in multiple immune cell lineages, where it negatively regulates T-cell activation and limits the function of NK cells, B cells, and dendritic cells. By promoting T-cell exhaustion, anergy, and cell death, CBL-B downregulates immune responses. CBL-B is highly expressed in human CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, with its expression tightly regulated by co-stimulatory (CD28) and inhibitory (CTLA-4) signals.
Typically, T cells require two signals for activation: (1) TCR recognition of antigen–MHC complexes and (2) co-stimulatory signals. CBL-B influences the TCR pathway by requiring adequate co-stimulation for a full immune response. Accordingly, CBL-B–deficient T cells have reduced activation thresholds and resist T-cell anergy, displaying higher proliferation rates and elevated cytokine production (e.g., IL-2). However, inhibiting CBL-B alone does not activate T cells in the absence of TCR engagement, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target to enhance anti-tumor immunity without indiscriminate T-cell activation.
Mechanism of action of NX-1607, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of the E3 ligase CBL-B
NX-1607: An Oral CBL-B Inhibitor for Immuno-Oncology
NX-1607 is an investigational, orally bioavailable, and potent CBL-B inhibitor that enhances T-cell-mediated anti-tumor responses. In vitro studies demonstrated that NX-1607 treatment resulted in a dose-dependent increase in T-cell activation in TCR-stimulated primary human T cells in the presence and, to a lesser extent, in the absence of CD28 co-stimulation, a potential advantage in a suppressive tumor microenvironment. NX-1607 does not appear to activate T cells in the absence of TCR engagement.
Clinical development of NX-1607
We are studying the pharmacology, safety and clinical activity of single-agent NX-1607 and have studied the combination of NX-1607 with taxane chemotherapy in multiple solid tumor indications. The solid tumors selected for this initial assessment include three different immune phenotypes: checkpoint-resistant tumors, tumors with an immunosuppressive microenvironment and tumors that are poorly immunogenic. We believe that there is a scientific rationale for the role of CBL-B inhibition in each of these immune phenotypes.
As illustrated in the diagram below, we are conducting a Phase 1a/1b dose-escalation and cohort expansion study of NX-1607 in patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors and lymphoma. We are currently enrolling patients in the Phase 1a dose escalation portion of the monotherapy trial, which includes assessment of both once daily (QD) and twice daily (BID) dosing. We have also explored step-up dosing and the use of anti-emetic prophylaxis medication to achieve target drug levels and minimize potential gastrointestinal tolerability issues.
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NX-1607 Phase 1a Clinical Study Design
Source: ECOG PS, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status
New Phase 1a clinical trial data for NX-1607 were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress and the 2025 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting, demonstrating that NX-1607 exhibited dose-dependent pharmacologic activity consistent with target engagement and immune modulation, showing clinical activity through reductions in tumor-specific biomarkers such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in colorectal cancer. Notably, there was a confirmed partial response in a patient with micro-satellite stable colorectal cancer (MSS CRC), a tumor type typically unresponsive to immune checkpoint therapy. Furthermore, treatment with NX-1607 led to increased peripheral T cell activation and proliferation, significantly greater in patients with stable disease compared to those with progressive disease, indicating active T-cell receptor engagement and immune responsiveness. NX-1607 demonstrated on-target peripheral immune activation, suggesting its potential as an active immune-oncology agent with a unique mechanism distinct from PD-1/PD-L1 therapies. The data support the initiation of expansion cohorts at the two highest doses tested for both monotherapy and combination treatments in advanced solid tumors.
NX-1607 Demonstrates a Disease Control Rate of 49.3% Across Doses and Tumor Types
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Our DEL-AI Platform and Research Engine
In disease settings where existing treatments are limited by suboptimal efficacy, safety, or rapid mutational resistance, or in settings that lack treatment options because the relevant disease drivers are not druggable by conventional means, we believe targeted protein degradation represents a promising treatment paradigm with the potential to greatly expand the number of pharmaceutically tractable biological disease targets and thereby significantly improve patient care. Early disclosures from an ever-increasing number of TPD clinical trials highlight the broad therapeutic potential of harnessing E3 ligases to promote targeted protein degradation of both established and unprecedented therapeutic targets. Using our DEL-AI research engine, we have identified many novel small molecule starting points and have progressed their development into differentiated therapies for patients lacking treatment options. Leveraging the wealth of chemical information that we have generated against hundreds of disease targets and E3 ligase proteins using our customized collection of 5 billion unique DEL compounds along with the knowledge we have accumulated by employing empirical degrader discovery workflows, we have constructed a powerful suite of machine learning models and tools that can enable us to predict proprietary binders for virtually any disease-relevant protein, including challenging targets like E3 ligases and transcription factors, and rapidly translate those binders into effective degrader drugs for a growing set of high value protein targets and target families. Our DEL-AI research engine is scalable and disease/target agnostic, providing us with the ability to support not only our wholly owned pipeline but also current and potential future discovery partnerships.
Fundamental premise of Nurix’s drug discovery: proteins as targets in treating disease
Each cell type within the body is comprised of proteins that define its biochemistry and biological function. When proteins are expressed and regulated correctly, the health of each individual cell as well as the body as a whole is maintained. However, disease can occur when normal cellular processes are dysregulated as a result of changes in protein structure, function, expression levels or pathway regulation. Factors such as genetic mutations, infection, exposure to toxins, diet and behavior can lead to dysregulation of cellular processes and, if unchecked, a disease process.
The traditional approach to discovering treatments for disease has involved the development of small molecule drugs that bind to a protein’s surface and modulate its activity. These “druggable” proteins contain distinct structural features called active sites that mediate protein function which can be exploited when identifying and optimizing compounds that disrupt protein activity. However, the vast majority of the body’s proteins do not have distinct active sites that can be targeted using traditional discovery methods. Because dysregulation and disease are not restricted to these “druggable” proteins, a significant number of therapeutically relevant proteins have not been addressed by traditional small molecule drugs. In addition, many existing small molecule drugs fail to fully block protein and pathway function, leading to incomplete disease resolution or rapid drug resistance. Other modalities, including antibody- and protein-based therapies, genetic medicines and cell therapies, have emerged to attempt to address these issues but are still limited by their modes of delivery, their scalability and their therapeutic applications.
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Harnessing the activity of E3 ligases to create a new treatment modality
Normal cellular physiology requires highly orchestrated and regulated processes that operate at the level of individual proteins. The ability of proteins to respond to stimuli quickly and in a coordinated fashion requires protein function to be readily controllable. One of the most exquisitely ordered biochemical systems governing cellular protein activity is the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). A key class of enzymes within the UPS are E3 ligases which mediate this process with a high degree of specificity by recognizing individual proteins and catalyzing the attachment of ubiquitin protein tags to their surface. Proteins marked with chains of ubiquitin are then shuttled to the proteasome for degradation and removal from the cell. In addition to protein degradation, E3 ligases also mediate other functions such as protein localization, receptor internalization, protein signaling and protein quality control. There are over 600 E3 ligases encoded within the human genome, representing more than 5% of genes. The prevalence of the E3 ligase class of enzymes reflects the diversity of their physiological roles and biological significance and may allow for the creation of a wide spectrum of ligase-targeted therapeutics.
Controlling protein levels through small molecule therapeutics targeting E3 ligases
Advances in our understanding of the UPS suggest broad potential for the development of new therapies that co-opt E3 ligases in the context of diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders. An example are the so-called immunomodulatory drugs, Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Pomalyst (pomalidomide), which are approved cancer drugs. These drugs exert their therapeutic effects by binding to the E3 ligase cereblon and redirecting its activity toward proteins it would not normally degrade, known as neosubstrates, such as Ikaros and Aiolos (also known as IKZF1 and IKZF3), transcription factors regulating immune cell function. Elucidation of this mechanism led to the recognition that pharmacological control of E3 ligase activity could more generally represent a promising new paradigm for small molecule drug action. This idea has since translated into the development of a growing number of clinical stage targeted protein degraders, which we believe have significant therapeutic potential. In addition, we believe the largely unexplored area of inhibiting E3 ligases directly to modulate the levels of their native substrate proteins and potentially enhance pathway signaling may also represent a promising therapeutic approach.
•Harnessing E3 ligases to degrade pharmaceutically relevant proteins. Targeted protein degradation harnesses the natural activity of ligases to target novel neosubstrates, thereby removing specific proteins from the cell. Targeted protein degradation is accomplished by using a small molecule capable of creating a potent interaction between an E3 ligase and a Protein of Interest (POI) such that the E3 ligase can covalently label the POI with a ubiquitin chain, the cellular signal for proteasome-mediated destruction. Unlike traditional small molecule inhibition which requires prolonged active site occupancy, targeted protein degradation requires only a brief interaction with a POI, through event-driven pharmacology, allowing one degrader molecule to induce the degradation of hundreds to thousands of copies of the protein target in a catalytic fashion, thereby enabling complete elimination of a protein target and all of its associated functionality. Further, since the effect is mediated through binding rather than through enzymatic inhibition, proteins lacking enzymatic activity are targetable, greatly expanding the spectrum of both proteins and diseases amenable to small molecule therapeutic intervention. Some of the key advantages of targeted protein degradation over existing modalities are:
•Degraders can eliminate all of a protein’s functionality. Removing a protein from the cell by targeting it for proteasomal destruction eliminates all of a protein’s functionality, including scaffolding or structural functions, in contrast to small molecule inhibitors that only block enzymatic function.
•Degraders can access an expanded range of target space. Conventional small molecule drug development is limited to protein classes, typically enzymes, that exhibit biochemical activities that can be reliably measured and inhibited through the binding of a compound to the target’s active site. In contrast, proteasomal degradation of a target protein is accomplished by inducing brief proximity of the target protein to an E3 ligase, a process that is agnostic to target structure and function.
•Degraders show differentiated pharmacology. TPDs act catalytically to eliminate their corresponding target proteins from a cell, requiring just a few degrader molecules to eliminate thousands of protein molecules and forcing the cell to resynthesize the target protein to restore functionality. This creates a unique degrader pharmacokinetics and degrader pharmacodynamics, greatly reducing the amplitude and duration of drug exposure required to maintain target suppression as compared to traditional small molecule inhibitors.
•Degraders are mutationally tolerant. Minor changes in the amino acid sequence of a target protein, as a consequence of somatic or inhibitor-selected resistance mutations, do not necessarily preclude degrader activity, even in cases where the mutations occur within the degrader binding site. This desirable property relates to the event-driven pharmacology of degraders and is in stark contrast to the propensity of amino acid point mutations to disrupt the in vivo activity and efficacy of inhibitor drugs.
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•Degraders can penetrate the CNS. Small molecule drugs and, most prominently beyond-the-rule-of-five compounds rarely achieve potent CNS exposure or activity. However, TPDs are increasingly cited for their ability to penetrate and show pharmacology in the CNS, in part due to the minimal plasma and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) exposure required for these catalytic agents to exhibit target coverage.
•Inhibiting E3 ligases to control pathway activation. By inhibiting the function of E3 ligases it is possible to rapidly increase the levels of specific protein substrates to control biological pathways. Raising the levels of distinct sets of proteins within a single biological pathway could be a powerful approach to blocking pathological processes and restoring normal physiology. While there is enthusiasm in the scientific community around the therapeutic potential of E3 ligase inhibition, the discovery of such inhibitors has been impeded by the limited understanding of this biochemically and structurally complex class of proteins and the limited availability of chemical matter for this historically intractable protein class.
We believe that co-opting E3 ligase functionality to effect pharmaceutical control of critical disease-associated proteins represents a powerful therapeutic frontier that retains the favorable attributes of small molecule treatment modalities while addressing some major limitations. In addition to the points above, we believe other key differentiating attributes of our treatment modality include:
•Expansive therapeutic potential. The UPS and its associated E3 ligases function across the majority of cell types and organ systems, making it possible to modulate virtually any protein of interest for a wide range of diseases.
•Deliverable and tunable. Oral delivery of small molecule compounds lends itself to broad medical applicability in a range of patient populations with delivery that may be readily calibrated through dosing schedule and quantity.
•Ease of manufacturing. Development and manufacturing of small molecules utilizes established, cost-efficient processes that are readily scalable.
Key attributes and applications of our DEL-AI platform and research engine
Our approach to pharmaceutical development relies on harnessing the innate specificity and the natural function of the UPS to regulate the cellular proteome for therapeutic effect. Until recently, development of therapies that co-opt E3 ligases and other UPS effectors has been limited by the lack of available chemical matter for this class of proteins, as well as by the relative lack of biochemical, biological and mechanistic understanding of these critical protein families. Through our focused efforts and investment over the past several years, we have developed proprietary tools, in-depth knowledge and a wealth of chemical matter to enable the broader use of E3 ligases in drug discovery. In addition, we have further expanded our reach by leveraging our E3 ligase knowledge base using purpose-built machine learning to prospectively access even more chemical matter capable of engaging this highly sought-after therapeutic target class.
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Significant investments in E3 ligase protein sciences and DEL methodology developments along with a liberal application of our DEL resource across hundreds of proprietary and partnered POIs has allowed us to generate large, high-quality datasets predominantly representing target classes relevant to protein degradation. Using advanced machine learning techniques trained on our DEL data compendium, we have developed powerful tools that can prospectively predict ligands to an arbitrarily large number of protein targets. This technology has greatly broadened the set of proteins ligandable by our methodologies, both in scope and in scale.
As shown below, these capabilities and insights have allowed us to develop DEL-AI, a powerful technology to identify and advance novel drug candidates.
Our DEL-AI research engine is a fully integrated, machine-learning powered drug discovery engine that leverages large empirical DEL and TPD datasets to write the rulebook of degrader drug design.
DEL technology taps enormous chemical space to overcome “druggability” limits
Our DEL compound collection comprises several billion individually DNA-labeled drug-like small molecules in contrast to conventional screening collections which contain less than a few million untagged compounds. This increased scale and traceability provides the necessary chemical diversity to identify chemical starting points for a broad set of biological targets, including many of the more challenging protein families that have been considered undruggable by other approaches. DEL technology evaluates each library compound simultaneously in a single experiment, enabling a more accurate biophysical assessment of compound behavior which translates into higher fidelity hit finding. In addition, because DEL drug discovery is performed by measuring compound binding rather than biochemical activity, it can be applied to almost any protein, most notably to proteins considered intractable because enzymatic screening assays are lacking or not feasible. Further, the relative ease with which binding screens can be performed and interpreted provides sufficient flexibility to allow evaluation of structurally complicated proteins like transcription factors and E3 ligases, which display distinct conformations and activity states that are rarely accessible in conventional biochemical screening assays. Lastly, a chemical linker attaches each DEL compound to a strand of DNA that functions as a barcode defining its unique chemical structure and allowing drug starting points to be easily identified through DNA sequencing. DEL’s built-in chemical linker is also an advantage in the context of TPD design, as it biases toward the discovery of binders that tolerate linker attachment, a critical prerequisite for bifunctional degrader construction.
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Our DEL technology was designed to identify ligands to drug the undrugged
Our methods rely on proprietary DELs we have specifically engineered to enable access to selective binders for a diverse group of target protein classes, including transcription factors, E3 ligases, disease-specific mutant proteins including fusions, as well as many other targets that have not previously been drugged. Key features of our DEL platform include:
•Custom-synthesized DELs. Our libraries have been designed to incorporate hundreds of custom-synthesized chemical scaffolds that impart desirable, drug-like chemical properties like solubility into each library compound in a manner that cannot be achieved when building DEL collections solely from commercial inputs. The three-dimensional design of our proprietary, SP3-enriched scaffolds allows our DEL compounds to better-complement the shallow surfaces of these more difficult to drug protein types, making them ideal for hit finding screens directed against targets that have proven to be undruggable by conventional approaches. For 75% of the undruggable targets screened to date, our scaffold libraries have provided the sole source of progressible hits. Often these binders interact with previously unappreciated binding sites on the surface of the target protein, or they interact with rare or unexpected conformational states, offering new ways to potentially target disease processes specifically. Most importantly, using our collection of over 5 billion DNA-linked and readily traceable compounds in thousands of screen reactions has allowed us to amass an enormous compendium of highly ordered binding data that is directly applicable to machine learning.
Design and Differentiation of the Nurix DEL Collection
•Many screens, one protein target. Protein targets have many potentially ligandable surfaces and can also exist in multiple conformation states. Our approach uses comprehensive parallel screening campaigns to interrogate numerous states and surfaces of the target protein by combining multiple protein constructs with a variety of known substrates, binders, or cofactors in empirically replicated screening assays.
•Proprietary data analysis and hit confirmation technologies. We have built a suite of custom analytical tools for interpretation and prioritization of our DEL binder outputs, which routinely contain thousands of productive hits. By leveraging data collected from thousands of DEL screens, we can rapidly recognize and eliminate background signal and reveal the most promising target-specific ligands. We have also developed high throughput methods for nanoscale hit resynthesis and affinity selection mass spectroscopy that allow a more comprehensive and industrialized process for rapidly confirming the best chemical starting points for future pipeline programs.
Our ligase know-how enables us to address diverse therapeutic applications
We have expanded the universe of E3 ligases available for therapeutic manipulation from the two predominantly used in the field, cereblon and VHL, by screening more than 100 E3 ligases to date to identify novel harnesses or molecular glues for use in TPD. We have carefully selected these E3 ligases based on their potential degradative function, level of processivity, lack of regulation, and desirable cell or tissue expression pattern. We consider the unique biological function of each ligase and the therapeutic requirements of the disease state when prioritizing discovery workflows. E3 ligases that are required for cancer cell survival are also of high interest for cancer indications to reduce the risk of intrinsic resistance to degrader action. We continue to actively grow our collection of chemical matter for E3 ligases to better tailor our TPD product profiles to our expanding range of therapeutic areas.
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Our industrialized degrader design, synthesis and testing workflows are scaled for empirical learning
•Rapid automated chemistry. Our advanced automated chemistry robotic suite allows for rapid synthesis of both binders and fully assembled degrader molecules. Application of on-resin chemistry methods allows us to achieve high reaction yields with fidelity such that we can forego purification steps and move rapidly from synthesis to cell-based testing of hundreds of degrader analogs per design cycle. This automation enables us to sample unprecedented chemical space and allows for faster design-make-test cycles, accelerating drug discovery projects.
•High throughput proteomics. A key advantage of the targeted protein degradation modality in contrast to traditional small molecule inhibitor development is that the precision and selectivity of protein degradation can be measured globally in any cell type to define on- and off-target drug behavior discretely at a cellular level, something not possible for nearly any other pharmaceutical modality. This proteome-wide data is ideally suited to inform machine learning models.
•Early and scaled in vivo pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of bifunctional degraders. Our degrader optimization workflows employ high throughput in vivo screens for oral bioavailability which has enabled us to empirically determine the complex spectrum of property combinations that correlate with potent pharmacodynamic activity.
•Structure based drug design and ternary complex modeling. Ternary complex stability, optimal ligase-to-target protein orientation, and minimal degrader molecular weight are core tenets of any TPD discovery campaign. Our workflows prioritize the empirical determination of a variety of biophysical properties and behaviors, including protein x-ray structures, ternary complex x-ray or cryo-EM structures, and an array of protein-protein and ligand-protein modeling exercises that deliver valuable datasets for informing TPD design.
Cohesive integration of advanced machine learning to every aspect of our discovery process
Targeted protein degradation has unlocked novel avenues for delivering effective therapies, leveraging unprecedented mechanisms of action to eliminate disease-causing proteins. These molecules involve new biology and new chemistry, necessitating extensive research along many dimensions of our drug candidates to achieve desirable profiles for our TPDs. To navigate this new paradigm in drug discovery, we have taken an empirical approach. We have invested heavily in high-throughput data generation workflows such as our 5 billion compound DEL resource as well as our automated chemistry and assay platforms. As a result, we have amassed one of the industry’s largest datasets singularly generated from experiments relevant to discovery, validation and optimization of targeted protein degradation.
Our research engine harnesses our expansive, empirical data streams to write the rulebook for TPD drug design. Through the integration of high-quality data emerging from our discovery and development workflows and application of deep learning and generative design, our powerful research engine is delivering a rapidly growing portfolio of early leads and optimized drug candidates.
•DEL Foundation. A foundation machine learning model built on our high-quality and high-volume DEL datasets which enables prospective binder identification for diverse POI and Ligase targets.
•Degrader activity. Program-specific models trained on our proprietary degrader activity datasets to better understand and optimize degrader MOA.
•Multiparameter property optimization. A suite of models tuned to predict a range of important molecular and pharmacokinetic properties in the unique chemical space occupied by TPD molecules.
•Generative molecular design. An integrated infrastructure leveraging the range of DEL Foundation, Degrader Activity, and Property Optimization models within an advanced generative machine learning framework.
•Harnessing our data generation pipelines with machine learning. Our investment in scalable science has created large data streams stemming from our DEL, automated chemistry, and high-throughput experimental platforms. As a result, Nurix has amassed one of the industry’s largest datasets singularly generated from experiments relevant to targeted protein degradation. Through the integration of this data spanning the range of our degrader development activities with deep learning and generative design, our researchers leverage our machine learning platform to identify and deliver novel, optimized compounds at any stage along the research pipeline.
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Our DAC platform can drive the discovery of cell-specific targeted therapies with the potential for an increased therapeutic windows
Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are a rapidly growing modality in targeted therapy. Traditional ADCs combine the selectivity of monoclonal antibodies with the potency of broadly cytotoxic payloads to effect malignant cell killing. While this modality can be agnostic to oncogenic mechanism, the pleiotropic effects of these payloads cannot be completely controlled by delivery, and therefore often lead to dose-limiting toxicity. We believe DACs, formed by conjugating a disease- or cell-type-selective antibody to a targeted protein degrader, can overcome the limitations of traditional ADCs. First, the degrader payload of a DAC swaps the polypharmacology of a payload toxin, not all of which is required for disease control, with the potent and precise pathway blockade that can be achieved by targeted protein degradation. Second, since degraders are catalytic, delivery of just a few degrader molecules to any one cell is sufficient to catalyze complete removal of a target protein and provide prolonged pharmacodynamic effect. Third, the tissue distribution of the degrader target protein and the co-opted E3 ligase afford two additional layers of selectivity to delimit DAC activity beyond what can be achieved through antibody delivery alone, mitigating the common ADC toxicities and providing the potential for superior safety while maintaining ADC-equivalent biological potency. In comparison, other novel antibody payloads, such as enzyme inhibitors, require high levels of payload delivery to be effective. An added benefit of the DAC modality is that it expands the repertoire of biological targets and E3 ligases that would make suitable combinations to achieving disease efficacy through TPD. This added flexibility enables us to further tap the potential of our DEL-AI platform to harvest a larger spectrum of Nurix’s existing chemical matter and know-how.
As a proof-of-concept for the DAC approach, we conjugated one of our potent BTK degraders to B-cell targeting (anti-CD19) and non-targeting (anti-Her2) monoclonal antibodies via a diverse set of chemical linkers leveraging our existing platform capabilities. The resulting B-cell targeting anti-CD19-BTK DACs, and non-targeting anti-Her2-BTK control conjugates were tested for BTK degradation in CD19+ malignant B cells. As illustrated in the figure below, we were able to show that only the anti-CD19 DAC (blue) had comparable degradation potency to that of the unconjugated degrader, validating the power and feasibility of antigen-specific antibody-mediated delivery of the DAC approach.
Collaborations and License Agreements
Gilead
In June 2019, we entered into a global strategic collaboration agreement with Gilead (as subsequently amended, the Gilead Agreement) to discover, develop and commercialize a pipeline of targeted protein degradation drugs for patients with cancer and other challenging diseases using our DEL-AI platform to identify novel agents that utilize E3 ligases to induce degradation of five specified drug targets. In August 2019 and September 2022, we entered into the First Amendment and the Second Amendment, respectively, to the Gilead Agreement to clarify certain language of the Gilead Agreement. In February 2024 and March 2024, as part of the existing collaboration agreement, Gilead elected to extend the five-year initial research term by two years for certain drug targets (Gilead Research Term Extension). The Gilead Research Term Extension triggered a $15.0 million payment, which we received in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024.
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Under the Gilead Agreement, Gilead has the option to license drug candidates directed to up to five targets resulting from the collaboration and is responsible for the clinical development and commercialization of drug candidates resulting from the collaboration. We retain the option to co-develop and co-promote, under a profit share structure, up to two drug candidates in the United States, provided that we may only exercise such option once per licensed product and Gilead retains the right to veto our option selection for any one drug candidate of its choice. The collaboration excludes our current internal protein degradation programs for which we retain all rights, and also excludes our future internal programs, provided that we have distinguished future programs as excluded from the scope of the collaboration. In March 2023, Gilead exercised its option to exclusively license one target (Gilead License Option Exercise), the first development candidate resulting from the Gilead Agreement. Pursuant to the Gilead Agreement, we received a license option exercise payment of $20.0 million in April 2023 for the Gilead License Option Exercise.
Over time, Gilead may elect to replace the initial drug targets with other drug targets. For drug targets that are subject to the collaboration, we are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to undertake a research program in accordance with a research plan agreed to by the parties and established on a target-by-target basis. We have primary responsibility under the Gilead Agreement for performing preclinical research activities (including target validation, drug discovery, identification or synthesis) pursuant to a research plan. Each party will bear its own costs in the conduct of research activities. Gilead will be responsible for any development, commercialization and manufacturing activities, unless we exercise our co-development and co-promotion option. For those programs that we exercise our option to co-develop and co-promote, we and Gilead will split U.S. development costs as well as U.S. profits and losses evenly, and we will be eligible to receive royalties on net ex-U.S. sales and reduced milestone payments.
Upon signing the Gilead Agreement, Gilead paid us an upfront payment of $45.0 million, plus $3.0 million in additional fees. In addition, from the signing of the Gilead Agreement to November 30, 2025, we received payments of $47.0 million for research milestones and additional payments, $20.0 million for a license option exercise payment, $15.0 million in research term extension fees and $5.0 million for a clinical milestone payment. As of November 30, 2025, we are eligible to receive up to approximately $1.8 billion in total additional payments based on certain additional fees, payments and the successful completion of certain preclinical, clinical, development and sales milestones. We also are eligible to receive mid-single digit to low tens percentage tiered royalties on annual net sales from any commercial products directed to the optioned collaboration targets, subject to certain reductions and excluding sales in the United States of any products for which we exercise our option to co-develop and co-promote, for which the parties share profits and losses evenly.
Subject to earlier expiration in certain circumstances, the Gilead Agreement expires on a licensed product-by-licensed product and country-by-country basis upon the later of (1) the expiration of the last to expire patent with a valid claim covering the applicable licensed product in the applicable country, (2) the expiration of any regulatory exclusivity for the applicable licensed product in the applicable country or (3) ten years after the first commercial sale of the applicable licensed product in the applicable country covered by the Gilead Agreement, provided that the term for any profit-shared licensed product in the United States will expire upon the expiration or termination of the applicable profit-share term as set forth in an applicable profit-share agreement to be negotiated upon our exercise of our option to co-develop and co-promote such licensed product. If Gilead does not exercise an option to license a drug candidate, then the Gilead Agreement will terminate at the end of the last to expire option period.
Sanofi
In December 2019, we entered into a strategic collaboration with Genzyme Corporation, a subsidiary of Sanofi, which became effective in January 2020 (as subsequently expanded and amended, the Sanofi Agreement), to discover, develop and commercialize a pipeline of targeted protein degradation drugs for patients with challenging diseases in multiple therapeutic areas using our DEL-AI platform to identify small molecules designed to induce degradation of three specified initial drug targets. In January 2021, as part of the existing Sanofi Agreement, Sanofi paid us $22.0 million to exercise its option to expand the number of targets in the Sanofi Agreement from three to a total of five targets.
In January 2021, we entered into the First Amendment to the Sanofi Agreement to modify the research term on all targets. In December 2021, we entered into the Second Amendment to the Sanofi Agreement to extend the substitution deadline on certain targets. In July 2022, we entered into the Third Amendment to the Sanofi Agreement to further extend the substitution deadline on certain targets. Also in July 2022, Sanofi elected to replace certain drug targets, and the substitution extended the research term of those targets by one year to 5.25 years. In August 2022 and November 2023, we entered into the Fourth Amendment and Fifth Amendment, respectively, to the Sanofi Agreement to modify the research plan for certain targets. In March 2024, we entered into the Sixth Amendment to the Sanofi Agreement to extend the research term for the collaboration target STAT6 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 6), a key drug target in type 2 inflammation, by two years.
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Under the Sanofi Agreement, Sanofi has exclusive rights and is responsible for the clinical development, commercialization and manufacture of drug candidates resulting from the collaboration while we retain the option to co-develop, co-promote and co-commercialize all drug candidates in the United States directed to up to two targets, one of which must be selected from a list of targets designated at the execution of the Sanofi Agreement or any replacement of such targets, and one of which must be selected from targets identified by Sanofi as part of their January 2021 expansion. Our right to exercise our option to co-develop, co-promote and co-commercialize a given target is dependent on our ability to demonstrate, within a given timeframe, that we have sufficient cash resources and personnel to commercialize the product. The collaboration excludes our current internal protein degradation programs for which we retain all rights, and also excludes our future internal programs, provided that we distinguished future programs as excluded from the scope of the collaboration.
In March 2025, Sanofi exercised its right to exclusively license one target (the First Sanofi License Extension), the first development candidate resulting from the Sanofi Agreement. Pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, we received a license extension fee payment of $15.0 million in March 2025 for the First Sanofi License Extension. In May 2025, Sanofi exercised its right to exclusively license a second target (the Second Sanofi License Extension, and together with the First Sanofi License Extension, the Sanofi License Extensions), the second development candidate resulting from the Sanofi Agreement. Pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, we received a license extension fee payment of $15.0 million in June 2025 for the Second Sanofi License Extension. The license to the functional intellectual property and all goods and services related to both the First Sanofi License Extension and the Second Sanofi License Extension were transferred during the second quarter of fiscal year 2025.
For drug targets that are subject to the collaboration, we have primary responsibility for conducting preclinical research activities (including target validation, drug discovery, identification or synthesis) in accordance with the applicable research plan agreed to by the parties and established on a target-by-target basis. We are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to identify relevant target binders and targeted protein degraders in order to identify development candidates. Subject to certain exceptions, each party will bear its own costs in the conduct of such research. Sanofi will be responsible for any development and commercialization activities unless we exercise our co-development and co-promotion option. For those programs that we exercise our option to co-develop, co-promote and co-commercialize, we will be responsible for a portion of the U.S. development costs, the parties will split U.S. profits and losses evenly, and we will be eligible to receive royalties on ex-U.S. net sales and reduced milestone payments on such optioned products.
Upon signing the Sanofi Agreement, Sanofi paid us an upfront payment of $55.0 million. Subsequently in January 2021, Sanofi paid us an additional $22.0 million to exercise its option to expand the number of targets beyond the initial targets included in the collaboration. In addition, from the signing of the Sanofi Agreement to November 30, 2025, we received payments of $20.0 million for research milestones and $30.0 million for license extension fees. As of November 30, 2025, we are eligible to receive up to approximately $930.0 million in total additional payments based on certain additional fees, payments and the successful completion of certain research development, regulatory and sales milestones. We are also eligible to receive mid-single digit to low teen percentage tiered royalties on annual net sales of any commercial products that may result from the collaboration, subject to certain reductions and excluding sales in the United States of any products for which we exercise our option to co-develop and co-promote, for which the parties share profits and losses evenly.
Subject to earlier expiration in certain circumstances, the Sanofi Agreement expires on a licensed product-by-licensed product or profit-shared licensed product-by-profit-shared licensed product basis and country-by-country basis upon on the later of (1) the expiration of the last-to-expire patent with a valid claim covering the applicable licensed product in the applicable country, (2) the expiration of any regulatory exclusivity for the applicable licensed product in the applicable country or (3) ten years after the first commercial sale of the applicable licensed product in the applicable country covered by the Sanofi Agreement.
Pfizer
In September 2023, we entered into a strategic collaboration with Seagen Inc. (now a part of Pfizer Inc.) (the Pfizer Agreement) to develop a suite of targeted protein degraders against multiple targets nominated by Pfizer that are suitable for antibody conjugation. Pfizer will be responsible for conjugating these degraders to antibodies to make DACs, a new class of medicines for use in cancer treatment and advancing these DAC drug candidates through preclinical and clinical development and commercialization.
Under the Pfizer Agreement, Pfizer has the option to obtain exclusive licenses to develop and commercialize certain degraders, while we retain an option for U.S. profit sharing and co-promotion on two products arising from the collaboration. The collaboration excludes our current internal protein degradation programs for which we retain all rights, and also excludes our future internal programs, provided that we have distinguished future programs as excluded from the scope of the collaboration.
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For the targets nominated by Pfizer under the collaboration, we shall use commercially reasonable efforts to identify, synthesize, characterize and deliver targeted protein degraders that selectively bind to and degrade such targets. Development of licensed degraders, with the exception of licensed products for which we exercise our profit-share options, will be at Pfizer’s sole cost and expense. For the profit-share products, the parties will share net profits and net losses and global development costs, and we will be eligible to receive royalty and milestone payments on such optioned products.
Under the terms of the Pfizer Agreement, we received an upfront payment of $60.0 million. In addition, from the signing of the Pfizer Agreement to November 30, 2025, we received payments of $10.0 million for research milestones. We are eligible to receive up to approximately $3.4 billion in contingent payments based on specified research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones across multiple programs. We are also eligible for mid-single to low double digit percentage tiered royalties on future sales.
Subject to the exceptions described in the Pfizer Agreement, the Pfizer Agreement expires upon the first to occur of (1) the expiration of the last-to-expire option exercise period under the Pfizer Agreement if no such option has been exercised prior to such expiration and (2) the expiration of the last-to-expire royalty term under the Pfizer Agreement.
Manufacturing and Supply
We do not own or operate, and currently have no plans to establish, any facilities for product manufacturing, packaging, storage and distribution, or testing. We rely on and expect to continue to rely on contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) for both drug substance and finished drug product. We have personnel or engaged consultants with extensive technical, manufacturing, analytical and quality experience and good project management to oversee contract manufacturing and testing activities. We have engaged third-party manufacturers to supply the drug substances for bexobrutideg, zelebrudomide, and NX-1607 and to develop and manufacture finished drug products for use in our clinical trials. Should any of these manufacturers become unavailable to us for any reason, we believe that there are a number of potential replacements, although we may incur some delay in identifying and qualifying such replacements.
All of our drug candidates are organic compounds of low molecular weight, generally called small molecules, but which are larger than traditional small molecule therapeutics. We have selected these compounds not only on the basis that they could have potentially favorable efficacy and safety profiles, but also for their ease of synthesis and the reasonable cost of their starting materials. In particular, our lead drug candidates are manufactured using reliable and reproducible synthetic processes from readily available starting materials. The chemistry is amenable to scale up and does not require unusual equipment in the manufacturing process. We expect to continue to develop drug candidates that can be produced cost-effectively at contract manufacturing facilities.
Competition
The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on intellectual property and proprietary products. While we believe that our technology, development experience, scientific knowledge and intellectual property portfolio provide us with competitive advantages, we face potential competition from many different sources, including major pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, governmental agencies and public and private research institutions that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Not only must we compete with other companies that are focused on protein degradation, but any drug candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with existing therapies and new therapies that may become available in the future. Moreover, our industry is characterized by the existence of large numbers of patents and frequent allegations of patent infringement.
Our focus is the discovery and development of innovative small molecules and antibody therapies designed to degrade protein levels, including targeted protein degraders. We are aware of multiple companies that primarily focus on developing small molecules that degrade target proteins. Drug candidates from our BTK degrader and CBL-B inhibitor programs may face competition from drugs with similar mechanisms of action. We are also aware of clinical-staged BTK degraders currently in development by multiple companies, and we are aware of at least once company currently developing a clinical-staged CBL-B inhibitor.
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Our lead drug candidates target hematologic cancers and immune-mediated diseases. The most common methods of treating patients in oncologic indications are surgery, radiation and drug therapy, including chemotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted drug therapy. There are a variety of available drug therapies marketed for cancer, including hematologic cancers. In many cases, these drugs are administered in combination to enhance efficacy. Some of the currently approved drug therapies are branded and subject to patent protection, and others are available on a generic basis. Many of these approved drugs are well established therapies and are widely accepted by physicians, patients and third-party payors. In general, although there has been considerable progress over the past few decades in the treatment of cancer and the currently marketed therapies provide benefits to many patients, these therapies all are limited to some extent in their efficacy and frequency of adverse events, and none of them are successful in treating all patients. As a result, the level of morbidity and mortality from cancer remains high.
In addition to currently marketed drugs, there are also several drug candidates in late-stage clinical development for the treatment of oncologic indications and immune-mediated diseases. These products in development may provide efficacy, safety, convenience and other benefits that are not provided by currently marketed therapies. As a result, they may provide significant competition for any of our drug candidates for which we obtain market approval.
If any of our drug candidates are approved for the indications for which we currently are conducting clinical trials or for which we expect to conduct clinical trials, they will compete with the foregoing therapies and the currently marketed drugs and potentially any drugs in development. It is also possible that we will face competition from other biologic or pharmaceutical approaches as well as from other types of therapies.
Many of our current or potential competitors, either alone or with strategic partners, have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. Our commercial opportunities could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third-party payors seeking to encourage the use of generic products. There are generic products currently on the market for certain of the indications that we are pursuing, and additional products are expected to become available on a generic basis over the coming years. If our drug candidates are approved, we expect that they will be priced at a significant premium over competitive generic products.
The key competitive factors affecting the success of all our programs, if approved, are likely to be their efficacy, safety, convenience, price, level of generic competition and availability of reimbursement.
Intellectual Property
We strive to protect and enhance the proprietary technology, inventions, platforms, drug candidates and improvements thereof that are commercially important to our business, including obtaining, maintaining and defending patent rights, whether developed internally or licensed from third parties. Our policy is to seek to protect our proprietary position by, among, other methods, pursuing patent protection in the United States and in jurisdictions outside of the United States related to our proprietary technology, inventions, improvements, platforms and drug candidates that are important to the development and implementation of our business. Our patent portfolio is intended to cover, but is not limited to, our technology platforms, drug candidates and components thereof and their methods of use, and any other inventions that are commercially important to our business.
We also rely on trade secret protection of our confidential information and know-how relating to our proprietary technology, platforms and drug candidates and continuing innovation to develop, strengthen and maintain our position in our DEL-AI platform and drug candidates. Trade secrets are difficult to protect and provide us with only limited protection. Our commercial success may depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for our technology, inventions and improvements; to preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets; to maintain our licenses to use intellectual property owned or controlled by third parties; to defend and enforce our proprietary rights, including our patent applications; to defend against challenges and assertions by third parties of their purported intellectual property rights; and to operate without infringement of valid and enforceable patents and other proprietary rights of third parties. For risks related to our intellectual property, please see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.”
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We believe that we have a strong global intellectual property position and substantial know how and trade secrets relating to our DEL-AI platform and drug candidates. As of December 31, 2025, we have 12 U.S. patents, 24 U.S. patent applications, 23 foreign patents and 121 foreign applications that we own, three U.S. patents, eight pending U.S. patent applications, five foreign patents and 88 foreign patent applications that we co-own with Gilead. The expected expirations for issued patents and patents that may issue from pending applications covering our clinical candidates are between the years 2039 and 2044 for bexobrutideg; 2039 and 2042 for zelebrudomide; and 2040 and 2043 for NX-1607.
The term of individual patents depends upon the laws of the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries in which we file, including the United States, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest date of filing of a non-provisional patent application in the applicable country. However, the patent term of U.S. patents may, in certain cases, be adjusted for administrative delays by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in examining and granting a patent or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over an earlier filed patent. In addition, the term of a patent may be extended as compensation for the patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. For example, for drugs that are regulated by the FDA under the Hatch-Waxman Act, it is permitted to extend the term of a patent that covers such drug for up to five years beyond the normal expiration date of the patent. For more information on patent term extensions, see “Business—Government Regulation—The Hatch-Waxman Act—Patent term extension.” In the future, if and when our pharmaceutical drug candidates receive FDA approval, we expect to apply for patent term extensions on patents, if issued, covering those drug candidates. We intend to seek patent term extensions to any of our patents, if issued, in any jurisdiction where these are available; however, there is no guarantee that the applicable authorities, including the USPTO and FDA, will agree with our assessment of whether such extensions should be granted, and even if granted, the length of such extensions.
The actual protection afforded by a patent varies on a product-by-product basis, from country-to-country, and depends upon many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the availability of regulatory-related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in a particular country and the validity and enforceability of the patent.
We also rely on trade secret protection for our know-how, confidential and proprietary information and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary information to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection. Although we take steps to protect our confidential and proprietary information as trade secrets, including through contractual means with our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors, competitors or other third parties may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or disclose our technology. Thus, we may not be able to meaningfully protect our trade secrets. It is our policy to require our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors to execute confidentiality agreements under the commencement of employment or consulting relationships with us. Despite these efforts, we cannot provide any assurances that all such agreements have been duly executed, and any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our proprietary technology and processes by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. Although we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. To the extent that our employees, contractors, consultants, collaborators and advisors use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in relation to the resulting know-how or inventions. For more information, please see the sections titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property” and “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulatory Approval and Marketing of Our Drug Candidates.”
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Government Regulation
The processes for obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and in foreign countries and jurisdictions, along with subsequent compliance with applicable statutes and regulations and other regulatory authorities, require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.
FDA approval process
In the United States, biological and pharmaceutical products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), Public Health Service Act (PHSA), and other federal and state statutes and regulations govern, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, packaging, storage, recordkeeping, approval, labeling, promotion, advertising and marketing, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, sampling, tracking and tracing and import and export of biological and pharmaceutical products. Failure to comply with applicable U.S. requirements may subject a company to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, such as FDA refusal to approve pending new drug applications (NDAs) or biologics licensure applications (BLAs), withdrawal of an approval, imposition of a clinical hold, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement of profits or civil or criminal investigations and penalties brought by the FDA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) or other governmental entities.
Biological or pharmaceutical product development for a new product or certain changes to an approved or licensed product in the United States typically involves preclinical laboratory and animal tests, the submission to the FDA of an IND which must become effective before clinical testing may commence, and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to establish the safety and effectiveness of a drug, or the safety, purity, or potency of a biological product, for each indication for which FDA approval is sought. Satisfaction of FDA pre-market approval and licensure requirements typically takes many years and the actual time required may vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product or disease.
Preclinical tests include laboratory evaluation of product chemistry, formulation and toxicity, as well as in vitro and animal trials to assess the characteristics and potential safety and efficacy of the product for initial testing in humans and to establish a rationale for therapeutic use. The conduct of the preclinical tests must comply with federal regulations and requirements, including Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs). The results of preclinical testing are submitted to the FDA as part of an IND along with other information, including information about product chemistry, manufacturing and controls, and a proposed clinical trial protocol. Long-term preclinical tests, such as animal tests of reproductive toxicity and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted.
An IND is an exemption from the FDCA that allows an unapproved new drug or biological product to be shipped in interstate commerce for use in an investigational clinical trial and a request for FDA authorization to administer an investigational drug or biological product to humans. Such authorization must be secured prior to interstate shipment and administration of any new drug or biological product that is not the subject of an approved NDA or BLA. In support of a request for an IND, a sponsor must submit a protocol for each clinical trial and any subsequent protocol amendments must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. The sponsor may be a company seeking to develop the drug or biological product or, as in the case of an investigator-initiated trial, the sponsor may be an investigator who is conducting the trial. In addition, the results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and plans for clinical trials, among other things, are submitted to the FDA as part of an IND.
A 30-day waiting period after the submission of each IND is required prior to the commencement of clinical testing in humans. This waiting period is designed to allow the FDA to review the IND to determine whether human research subjects will be exposed to unreasonable health risks. At any time during this 30-day period, the FDA may raise concerns or questions about the conduct of the trials as outlined in the IND and impose a clinical hold. In this case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before clinical trials can begin. If the FDA has neither commented on nor questioned the IND within this 30-day period, the clinical trial proposed in the IND may begin.
Clinical trials involve the administration of the investigational new drug or biological product to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of a qualified investigator. Clinical trials must be conducted: (i) in compliance with federal regulations; (ii) in compliance with good clinical practice (GCP), which is an international standard meant to protect the rights and health of patients and to define the roles of clinical trial sponsors, administrators and monitors; as well as (iii) under protocols detailing the objectives of the trial, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety and the effectiveness criteria to be evaluated. Each protocol involving testing on U.S. patients and subsequent protocol amendments must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND.
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The FDA may order the temporary or permanent discontinuation of a clinical trial at any time, as a clinical hold or partial clinical hold, or impose other sanctions, if it believes that the clinical trial either is not being conducted in accordance with FDA requirements or presents an unacceptable risk to the clinical trial patients. A clinical hold is an order issued by the FDA to the sponsor to delay a proposed clinical investigation or to suspend an ongoing investigation. A partial clinical hold is a delay or suspension of only part of the clinical work requested under the IND. For example, a specific protocol, or part of a protocol, is not allowed to proceed, while other protocols may do so. No more than 30 days after imposition of a clinical hold or partial clinical hold, the FDA will provide the sponsor a written explanation of the basis for the hold. Following issuance of a clinical hold or partial clinical hold, an investigation may only resume after the FDA has notified the sponsor that the investigation may proceed. The FDA will base that determination on information provided by the sponsor correcting the deficiencies previously cited or otherwise satisfying the FDA that the investigation can proceed.
A sponsor may choose, but is not required, to conduct a foreign clinical study under an IND. When a foreign clinical study is conducted under an IND, all IND requirements must be met unless waived. When the foreign clinical study is not conducted under an IND, the sponsor must ensure that the study complies with certain FDA regulatory requirements in order to use the study as support for an IND or application for marketing approval or licensure. Specifically, the FDA has promulgated regulations governing the acceptance of data from foreign clinical trials not conducted under an IND, establishing that such data from studies will be accepted as support for an IND or application for marketing approval if the study was conducted in accordance with GCP, including review and approval by an independent ethics committee and use of proper procedures for obtaining informed consent from subjects, and the FDA is able to validate the data from the study through an onsite inspection if the FDA deems such inspection necessary. The GCP requirements encompass both ethical and data integrity standards for clinical studies. The FDA’s regulations are intended to help ensure the protection of human subjects enrolled in non-IND foreign clinical trials, as well as the quality and integrity of the resulting data. They further help ensure that non-IND foreign studies are conducted in a manner comparable to that required for IND studies. If a marketing application is based solely on foreign clinical data, the FDA requires that the foreign data be applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice; the studies must have been performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence; and the FDA must be able to validate the data through an onsite inspection or other appropriate means, if the FDA deems such an inspection to be necessary.
The study protocol and informed consent information for patients in clinical trials must also be submitted to an institutional review board (IRB) representing each institution participating in the clinical trial. The IRB must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial before it commences at that institution, and the IRB must conduct continuing review and reapprove the study at least annually. The IRB must review and approve, among other things, the study protocol and informed consent information to be provided to study subjects. An IRB must operate in compliance with FDA regulations. An IRB may also require the clinical trial at the site to be halted, either temporarily or permanently, for failure to comply with the IRB’s requirements, or may impose other conditions.
Additionally, some trials are overseen by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the trial sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board or committee. This group provides authorization for whether or not a trial may move forward at designated check points based on access that only the group maintains to available data from the study. Suspension or termination of development during any phase of clinical trials can occur if it is determined that the participants or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Other reasons for suspension or termination may be made by us based on evolving business objectives and/or competitive climate.
Information about certain clinical trials must be submitted within specific timeframes to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for public dissemination on its ClinicalTrials.gov website. Sponsors are also obligated to disclose the results of their clinical trials after completion. Disclosure of the results of these trials can be delayed in certain circumstances for up to two years after the date of completion of the trial.
Clinical trials to support NDAs or BLAs for marketing approval or licensure are typically conducted in three sequential phases, but the phases may overlap. In Phase 1, the drug or biological product is introduced into healthy human subjects or in certain indications such as cancer, into patients with the target disease or condition. The drug is tested in Phase 1 to assess metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmacological actions, side effects associated with increasing doses, and, if possible, early evidence of effectiveness. Phase 2 usually involves trials in a limited patient population to determine the effectiveness or potency of the drug or biological product for a particular indication, dosage tolerance and optimum dosage, and to identify common adverse effects and safety risks. If a product candidate demonstrates evidence of effectiveness and an acceptable safety profile in Phase 2 evaluations, Phase 3 trials are conducted. In a Phase 3 trial, the drug or biological product is administered to an expanded patient population, generally at geographically dispersed clinical trial sites, in well-controlled clinical trials to generate enough data to statistically evaluate the efficacy or potency and purity, and safety, of the product for approval or licensure, to establish the overall risk benefit profile of the product, and to provide adequate information for the labeling of the product.
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In most cases the FDA requires at least two adequate and well-controlled Phase 3 clinical trials to demonstrate the efficacy or potency of the drug. A single Phase 3 trial with other confirmatory evidence may be sufficient in rare instances, such as where the study is a large multicenter trial demonstrating internal consistency and a statistically very persuasive finding of a clinically meaningful effect on mortality, irreversible morbidity or prevention of a disease with a potentially serious outcome and confirmation of the result in a second trial would be practically or ethically impossible. Post-approval studies, or Phase 4 trials, are often required following initial approval and are intended to gain additional experience and data from treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication.
Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials conducted under an IND must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and more frequently if serious adverse effects occur. In addition, IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA for any of the following: serious and unexpected suspected adverse reactions; findings from other studies or animal or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk in humans exposed to the drug or biological product; and any clinically important increase in the case of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure. Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials may not be completed successfully within any specified period, or at all. Furthermore, the FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution, or an institution it represents, if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the drug or biological product has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. The FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP and the integrity of the clinical data submitted in an NDA or BLA.
Concurrent with clinical trials, companies often complete additional animal studies and must also develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the drug or biological product as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the drug or biological product candidate and, among other things, must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final drug. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested, and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the drug or biological product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
After completion of the required clinical testing, an NDA or BLA is prepared and submitted to the FDA. FDA approval of the NDA or BLA is required before marketing of the product may begin in the United States. The application must include the results of all preclinical, clinical and other testing and a compilation of data relating to the product’s pharmacology, chemistry, manufacture and controls. The cost of preparing and submitting an application is substantial. The submission of most NDAs or BLAs is additionally subject to a substantial application user fee, currently set for fiscal year 2025 at $4,310,002 for applications requiring clinical data, and $2,155,001 for applications not requiring clinical data, and the manufacturer and sponsor under an approved NDA or BLA are also subject to annual program fees, currently set for fiscal year 2025 at $403,889 for each prescription product. These fees are typically increased annually. Sponsors of applications for drugs granted Orphan Drug Designation are exempt from these user fees.
The FDA has 60 days from its receipt of an NDA or BLA to determine whether the application will be accepted for filing based on the agency’s threshold determination that it is sufficiently complete to permit substantive review. The FDA may request additional information rather than accept an NDA or BLA for filing. In this event, the application must be resubmitted with the additional information. The resubmitted application is also subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth review. The FDA has agreed to certain performance goals in the review of NDAs and BLAs to encourage timeliness. The FDA intends to review applications for standard review product candidates within ten months of the 60-day filing date; and applications for priority review product candidates within six months. Priority review can be applied to drugs or biological products that the FDA determines treat a serious condition, and if approved, would offer a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness. The FDA determines, on a case-by-case basis, whether the proposed product represents a significant improvement when compared with other available therapies. Significant improvement may be illustrated by evidence of increased effectiveness in the treatment of a condition, elimination or substantial reduction of a treatment limiting product reaction, documented enhancement of patient compliance that may lead to improvement in serious outcomes, and evidence of safety and effectiveness in a new subpopulation. The review process for both standard and priority review may be extended by the FDA for three additional months to consider certain late-submitted information, or information intended to clarify information already provided in the submission.
The FDA is required to refer an application for a novel drug or biological product to an advisory committee for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved, or otherwise explain why such referral was not made. An advisory committee is typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts. The FDA is not bound by the recommendation of an advisory committee, but it generally follows such recommendations.
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Before approving an NDA or BLA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP. Additionally, the FDA will inspect the facility or the facilities at which the drug or biological product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve the application unless compliance with cGMPs is satisfactory and the application contains data that provide substantial evidence that the drug is safe and effective, or the biological product is safe, pure and potent, in the indication studied.
After the FDA evaluates the NDA or BLA and accompanying information and the manufacturing facilities, it issues either an approval letter or a complete response letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the product with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A complete response letter generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require substantial additional testing, or information, in order for the FDA to reconsider the application. If, or when, those deficiencies have been addressed to the FDA’s satisfaction in a resubmission of the NDA or BLA, the FDA will issue an approval letter. The FDA intends to review such resubmissions in two or six months depending on the type of information included. Even with submission of this additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval or licensure.
An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug or biological product with specific prescribing information for specific indications. As a condition of approval or licensure, the FDA may require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) to help ensure that the benefits of the drug or biological product outweigh the potential risks. REMS can include medication guides, communication plans for healthcare professionals and elements to assure safe use (ETASU). ETASU can include, but are not limited to, special training or certification for prescribing or dispensing, dispensing only under certain circumstances, special monitoring and the use of patient registries. The requirement for a REMS can materially affect the potential market and profitability of the drug or biological product. Moreover, product approval may require substantial post-approval testing and surveillance to monitor the drug’s safety or efficacy. Once granted, product approvals may be withdrawn if compliance with regulatory standards is not maintained or problems are identified following initial marketing.
If the FDA approves or licenses a drug or biological product, it may limit the approved indications for use of the product; require that contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling; require that post-approval studies, including Phase 4 clinical trials, be conducted to further assess the drug’s safety after approval or licensure; require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the product after commercialization; or impose other conditions, including distribution restrictions or other risk management mechanisms, including REMS, which can materially affect the potential market and profitability of the product. The FDA may prevent or limit further marketing of a product based on the results of post-market studies or surveillance programs. Changes to some of the conditions established in an approved application, including changes in indications, labeling, or manufacturing processes or facilities, require submission and FDA approval of a new NDA or BLA, or an NDA or BLA supplement before the change can be implemented. An NDA or BLA supplement for a new indication typically requires clinical data similar to that in the original application, and the FDA uses the same procedures and actions in reviewing NDA and BLA supplements as it does in reviewing NDAs and BLAs.
Approval of medicines in the European Union (EU)
In the EU, companies can apply for marketing authorizations under the centralized procedure to the EMA or they can submit their application to the competent authorities in the European Economic Area (EEA) Member States via the decentralized procedure, the national procedure, or the mutual recognition procedure. The centralized procedure is mandatory for certain medicines, such as those produced by biotechnology, orphan medicinal products, advanced therapy medicinal products and those containing a new active substance indicated for the treatment of HIV, AIDS, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, autoimmune and other immune dysfunctions, viral diseases, or diabetes. The centralized procedure remains optional for medicines containing a new active substance, or which are a significant therapeutic, scientific, or technical innovation or whose authorization would be in the interest of public health. Therefore the centralized procedure remains mandatory for the majority of biological medicinal products.
The marketing authorization granted under the centralized procedure by the EMA will be valid in all EEA Member States. The evaluation of a marketing authorization application by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) takes up to 210 “active” days (excluding all “clock stops” for an applicant to address questions by the EMA–there are usually one or two clock stops that last three to six months and one to two months, respectively) but can be extended, should additional information be required by the CHMP. The European Commission makes the final decision to grant a marketing authorization, which is issued within 67 days of receipt of the EMA’s positive opinion. An accelerated assessment procedure of 150 days may be implemented for drugs considered to be of major public health interest. There is also an internal re-examination procedure available in case the applicant disagrees with the CHMP opinion.
Under the mutual recognition procedure, the national marketing authorization holder may submit an application to other EEA Member States. The Member States involved must decide whether to recognize the approval within 90 days of receiving the application. If a Member State does not recognize the marketing authorization, the disputed points are eventually referred to the European Commission, whose decision is binding.
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Since the UK has left the EU, it is no longer covered by centralized marketing authorizations. A separate marketing authorization application is required in respect of the UK. The UK government recently reached a new agreement with the EU, the “Windsor Framework,” which replaced the Northern Ireland protocol, according to which, the EU pharmaceutical legal framework acquis continued to apply to Northern Ireland. Since the implementation of the Windsor Framework, medicinal products intended for the UK market including Northern Ireland are now authorized by the MHRA and must bear a “UK only” label. This means that medicinal products placed on the market in Northern Ireland no longer need to be compliant with EU law. These new measures have been implemented as of January 1, 2025. The MHRA has ceased to participate in the assessment of any centralized procedures since January 1, 2021. Since then, the MHRA has launched the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), a new accelerated assessment procedure for marketing authorization applications that enables eligible products to be authorized in and potentially placed on the UK market faster. On January 1, 2024, the MHRA launched an International Recognition Procedure for marketing authorization applications whereby the MHRA will, when considering such applications, take into account the approval of medicines by trusted reference regulators in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, United States and EU into its own abbreviated assessment.
Clinical trials regulation and data sharing in the EU
In the EU/EEA, all initial clinical trial applications (CTA) must be submitted through the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) and ethics approval must be sought from an independent Ethics Committee. Under the EU Clinical Trials Regulation 536/2014, which has been in effect since January 31, 2022, replacing the EU Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC, suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions to the drug being trialed occurring during the clinical trial must be reported via the EudraVigilance database.
In the EU, Transparency Regulation No 1049/ 2001, EMA Policy 0043, EMA Policy 0070, as well as the Clinical Trials Regulation No 536/2014 set out the obligation for sponsors to make publicly available certain information stemming from clinical studies, whether proactively or in response to third party requests. Interested parties based in the EU may submit a request to the EMA to access information included in the marketing authorization application for authorized medicinal products. Commercially confidential information and protected personal data, however, may not be accessed.
The European Health Data Space Regulations (the EHDS Regulations) came into force on March 26, 2025. The aims of the EHDS Regulations are to provide individuals with more control over their electronic health data, enable cross-border sharing of European Health Data (EHD) between national EU healthcare systems and facilitate the sharing of EHD for secondary research purposes. The EHDS Regulations impose new obligations, but also create opportunities for companies engaged in health-related research to share and access health data on a large scale. Although the EHDS Regulations have come into force, key obligations will not apply until March 2029.
Regulatory framework in the UK following Brexit
The UK officially left the EU on January 31, 2020. A transition period during which EU law remained applicable to the UK began on February 1, 2020, and ended on December 31, 2020. The EU regulatory framework for medicinal products in place before the end of the transition period has been preserved in UK domestic legislation as “retained EU law” but the UK may diverge from EU law in the future should it wish to do so. Pursuant to the Northern Ireland Protocol, the EU pharmaceutical legal framework acquis continued to apply in Northern Ireland and medicines could only be placed in the Northern Ireland market if they complied with EU law. The UK government reached a new agreement with the EU, the “Windsor Framework,” which has replaced the Northern Ireland protocol. According to the Windsor Framework, medicinal products intended for the UK market including Northern Ireland are now authorized by the MHRA and must bear a “UK only” label. This means that medicinal products placed on the market in Northern Ireland no longer need to be compliant with EU law. These new measures have been implemented as of January 1, 2025.
Expedited approval pathways
The FDA is authorized to designate certain products for expedited review if they are intended to address an unmet medical need in the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition. These programs are referred to as Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation and Priority Review designation. In addition, Accelerated Approval offers the potential for approval based on a surrogate or intermediate clinical endpoint. In May 2014, the FDA published a final Guidance for Industry titled “Expedited Programs for Serious Conditions Drugs and Biologics,” which provides guidance on the FDA programs that are intended to facilitate and expedite development and review of new drug or biological product candidates as well as threshold criteria generally applicable to concluding that a product candidate is a candidate for these expedited development and review programs.
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The FDA may designate a product for Fast Track review if it is intended, whether alone or in combination with one or more other products, for the treatment of a serious or life threatening disease or condition, and nonclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for such a disease or condition. For Fast Track products, sponsors may have greater interactions with the FDA and the FDA may initiate review of sections of a Fast Track product’s application before the application is complete. This rolling review may be available if the FDA determines, after preliminary evaluation of clinical data submitted by the sponsor, that a Fast Track product may be effective. The sponsor must also provide, and the FDA must approve, a schedule for the submission of the remaining information and the sponsor must pay applicable user fees. However, the FDA’s review clock for a Fast Track application does not begin until the last section of the application is submitted. In addition, the Fast Track designation may be withdrawn by the FDA if the FDA believes that the designation is no longer supported by data emerging in the clinical trial process.
A product may be designated as a Breakthrough Therapy if it is intended, either alone or in combination with one or more other products, to treat a serious or life threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing available therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. The FDA may take certain actions with respect to Breakthrough Therapies, including holding meetings with the sponsor throughout the development process; providing timely advice to the product sponsor regarding development and approval; involving more senior staff in the review process; assigning a cross disciplinary project lead for the review team; rolling review; and taking other steps to design the clinical trials in an efficient manner.
Accelerated Approval Pathway
The FDA may grant Accelerated Approval to a drug or biological product for a serious or life threatening condition that provides meaningful therapeutic advantage to patients over available treatments based upon a determination that the drug or biological product has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. The FDA may also grant Accelerated Approval for such drug or biological product for such a condition when the product has an effect on an intermediate clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality (IMM) and that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on IMM or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. Drugs and biological products granted Accelerated Approval must meet the same statutory standards for safety and effectiveness as those granted traditional approval.
For the purposes of Accelerated Approval, a surrogate endpoint is a marker, such as a laboratory measurement, radiographic image, physical sign or other measure that is thought to predict clinical benefit but is not itself a measure of clinical benefit. Surrogate endpoints can often be measured more easily or more rapidly than clinical endpoints. An intermediate clinical endpoint is a measurement of a therapeutic effect that is considered reasonably likely to predict the clinical benefit of a drug or biological product, such as an effect on IMM. The FDA has limited experience with Accelerated Approvals based on intermediate clinical endpoints, but has indicated that such endpoints generally may support Accelerated Approval where the therapeutic effect measured by the endpoint is not itself a clinical benefit and basis for traditional approval, if there is a basis for concluding that the therapeutic effect is reasonably likely to predict the ultimate clinical benefit of a drug or biological product.
The Accelerated Approval Pathway is most often used in settings in which the course of a disease is long and an extended period of time is required to measure the intended clinical benefit of a drug or biological product, even if the effect on the surrogate or intermediate clinical endpoint occurs rapidly. Thus, Accelerated Approval has been used extensively in the development and approval of drugs and biological products for treatment of a variety of cancers in which the goal of therapy is generally to improve survival or decrease morbidity and the duration of the typical disease course requires lengthy and sometimes large trials to demonstrate a clinical or survival benefit.
The Accelerated Approval Pathway is contingent on a sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verify and describe the product’s clinical benefit. As a result, a drug or biological product candidate approved on this basis is subject to rigorous post-marketing compliance requirements, including the completion of Phase 4 or post-approval clinical trials to confirm the effect on the clinical endpoint. Failure to conduct required post-approval studies, or confirm a clinical benefit during post-marketing studies, would allow the FDA to withdraw the drug or biological product from the market on an expedited basis, and under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022, the FDA has increased authority to expedite withdrawals. In addition, all promotional materials for drugs and biological products approved under accelerated regulations are subject to prior review by the FDA.
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The EU and UK operate accelerated evaluation and assessment schemes, which include, at EU level, Priority Medicines (PRIME) scheme and, at UK level, the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS), which may be granted in exceptional cases, often when there is unmet medical need for a life-threatening or serious debilitating condition and existing data show a positive benefit/risk balance that means the medicinal product is of a major public health interest. The CHMP of the EMA or the MHRA (or other national competent authority) will make this determination on a case-by-case basis and subject to meeting eligibility criteria. Accelerated assessment takes place within 150 days. Other regulatory facilitations for these pathways include additional scientific advice at key development milestones and frequent guidance and discussions throughout the approval process. In the UK, the MHRA has launched the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), a new accelerated assessment procedure for marketing authorization applications that enables companies to enter the UK market faster, available since January 1, 2021. On January 1, 2024, the MHRA launched an International Recognition Procedure for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) marketing authorization applications whereby the MHRA will, when considering such applications, recognize the approval of medicines by trusted reference regulators in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, United States and EU following its own abbreviated assessment.
Orphan drugs
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant Orphan Drug Designation to drugs or biological products intended to treat a rare disease or condition—generally a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States. Orphan Drug Designation must be requested before submitting an NDA. After the FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation, the name of the drug or biological product and its potential orphan-designated use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan Drug Designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.
The first NDA or BLA applicant to receive FDA approval for a particular drug or biological product to treat a particular disease with FDA Orphan Drug Designation is entitled to a seven-year exclusive marketing period in the United States for that product, for that indication. During the seven-year exclusivity period, the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug or biological product for the same disease, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity. Orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving a different drug or biological product for the same disease or condition, or the same drug or biological product for a different disease or condition. Among the other benefits of Orphan Drug Designation are tax credits for certain research and an exemption from the NDA or BLA application user fee.
A designated orphan drug or biological product may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is licensed for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be rescinded if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.
In the EU and UK, under Regulation (EC) 141/2000 and the UK Human Medicines Regulations 2012 SI 2012 No. 1916 (as amended), respectively, medicinal products may be granted an orphan drug designation if they are used to treat or prevent life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions that affect no more than five in 10,000 people in the EU/UK and for which there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment when the application is made, or when the medicinal product is of significant benefit to those affected by the condition. In addition, orphan drug designation can be granted to drugs used to treat or prevent life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions which, for economic reasons, would be unlikely to be developed without incentives.
The application for orphan designation must be submitted to and approved by the EMA in respect of the EU or to the MHRA for Great Britain before an application is made for marketing authorization for the product. Medicinal products which benefit from orphan status, which they successfully maintain post-grant of the marketing authorization, can benefit from up to ten years of market exclusivity in respect of the approved indication. This prevents regulatory authorities in the EU or Great Britain, as the case may be, from granting marketing authorizations for similar medicinal products for the same therapeutic indication, unless another applicant can show that the similar medicinal product in question is safer, more effective or clinically superior to the orphan-designated product or if the marketing authorization holder consents to the second orphan medicinal product application, or where the marketing authorization holder cannot supply the needs of the market.
The ten-year market exclusivity may be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is established that the product no longer meets the criteria for orphan designation, for example, if the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify the maintenance of market exclusivity. Conversely, the 10-year exclusivity period can be further extended by two years, when pediatric studies are conducted in accordance with an agreed pediatric investigation plan and in completion of all the legal requirements.
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It is noted that the general pharmaceutical legislative framework, as well as the framework applicable to orphan and pediatric medicinal products in the EU, is under review. On April 26, 2023, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new Regulation set to replace Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 and a new Directive to replace Directive 2001/83 on the Community Code relating to medicinal products for human use. If made into law, this proposal will revise the existing general pharmaceutical legislation and may reduce applicable regulatory exclusivities which will significantly affect all medicinal products that will be authorized after the legislative changes have taken effect.
Post-approval requirements
Drugs and biological products manufactured or distributed pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to recordkeeping, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, advertising and promotion and reporting of adverse experiences with the product. After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims, are subject to prior FDA review, through the applicant’s submission of a supplemental application, and approval. There also are continuing, annual user fee requirements for any marketed products and the establishments at which such products are manufactured, as well as new application fees for supplemental applications with clinical data.
In addition, drug and biological product manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved products are required to register their establishments with the FDA and state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and these state agencies for compliance with cGMP requirements. Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated and often require prior FDA approval before being implemented. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting and documentation requirements upon the sponsor and any third-party manufacturers that the sponsor may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance.
Once an approval is granted, the FDA may withdraw the approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:
•Restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, including total or partial suspension of production, complete withdrawal of the product from the market or product recalls;
•Fines, untitled or warning letters or holds on post-approval clinical trials;
•Refusal of the FDA to approve pending NDAs, BLAs or supplements to approved NDAs or BLAs, or suspension or revocation of product license approvals;
•Product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; or
•Injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Drugs and biological products may be promoted only for the approved indications and consistently with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off label uses may be subject to significant liability.
In addition, the distribution of prescription drug and biological products is subject to the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA) which regulates the distribution of drugs, biological products and drug or biological product samples at the federal level, and sets minimum standards for the registration and regulation of drug and biological product distributors by the states. Both the PDMA and state laws limit the distribution of prescription drug and biological product samples and impose requirements to ensure accountability in distribution.
Many jurisdictions, including the EU and the UK, require each marketing authorization holder, national competent authority and the EMA to operate a pharmacovigilance system to ensure that the safety of all medicines is monitored throughout the lifetime of a medicinal product. The overall EU pharmacovigilance system operates through cooperation between the EU Member States, EMA and the European Commission. Applicable obligations extend to all activities consisting of procuring, holding, supplying or exporting medicinal products to the public and may therefore be incumbent upon importers, distributors and other economic operators in the supply chain.
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Abbreviated new drug applications for generic drugs
In 1984, with passage of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the FDCA, Congress established an abbreviated regulatory scheme allowing the FDA to approve generic drugs that are shown to contain the same active ingredients as, and to be bioequivalent to, drugs previously approved by the FDA pursuant to NDAs. To obtain approval of a generic drug, an applicant must submit an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) to the agency. An ANDA is a comprehensive submission that contains, among other things, data and information pertaining to the active pharmaceutical ingredient, bioequivalence, drug product formulation, specifications and stability of the generic drug, as well as analytical methods, manufacturing process validation data and quality control procedures. ANDAs are “abbreviated” because they generally do not include preclinical and clinical data to demonstrate safety and effectiveness. Instead, in support of such applications, a generic manufacturer may rely on the preclinical and clinical testing previously conducted for a drug product previously approved under an NDA, known as the reference listed drug (RLD).
Specifically, in order for an ANDA to be approved, the FDA must find that the generic version is identical to the RLD with respect to the active ingredients, the route of administration, the dosage form and the strength of the drug. An applicant may submit an ANDA suitability petition to request the FDA’s prior permission to submit an abbreviated application for a drug that differs from the RLD in route of administration, dosage form, or strength, or for a drug that has one different active ingredient in a fixed combination drug product (i.e., a drug product with multiple active ingredients). At the same time, the FDA must also determine that the generic drug is “bioequivalent” to the innovator drug. Under the statute, a generic drug is bioequivalent to a RLD if “the rate and extent of absorption of the drug do not show a significant difference from the rate and extent of absorption of the listed drug.” Upon approval of an ANDA, the FDA indicates whether the generic product is “therapeutically equivalent” to the RLD in its publication “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” also referred to as the “Orange Book.” Physicians and pharmacists may consider a therapeutic equivalent generic drug to be fully substitutable for the RLD. In addition, by operation of certain state laws and numerous health insurance programs, the FDA’s designation of therapeutic equivalence often results in substitution of the generic drug without the knowledge or consent of either the prescribing physician or patient.
Abridged marketing authorization applications for generic and biosimilar drugs in the EU and the UK
Generic and hybrid medicinal products of reference medicinal products authorized via the centralized procedure have automatic access to the centralized procedure. Generic and hybrid products can refer to the complete dossier (i.e., the quality, preclinical and clinical data) of the reference medicinal product in their marketing authorization application, by demonstration of bioequivalence, usually through the submission of the appropriate bioavailability studies after the period of regulatory data protection (also called “data exclusivity”) has expired, namely eight years after the grant of the marketing authorization of the reference medicinal product. Applicants will be able to cross-refer to the dossier of the reference medicinal product, as long as the data protection period has expired. This abridged application procedure avoids the requirement to repeat trials and allows generic applicants a faster entry to the market. If a biosimilar of a reference biological product does not meet the conditions in the definition of generic medicinal products, owing to, in particular, differences relating to raw materials or differences in manufacturing processes of the biological medicinal product and the reference biological medicinal product, the results of appropriate preclinical studies or clinical trials relating to these conditions must be provided. The type and quantity of supplementary data to be provided must comply with the relevant criteria stated in Annex I of Directive 2001/83 as amended and the related detailed guidelines. The results of other tests and trials from the reference medicinal product’s dossier do not need to be provided.
505(b)(2) New Drug Applications
As an alternative path to FDA approval for modifications to formulations or uses of products previously approved by the FDA pursuant to an NDA, an applicant may submit an NDA under Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA. Section 505(b)(2) was enacted as part of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments and permits the filing of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from studies not conducted by, or for, the applicant, and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. If the 505(b)(2) applicant can establish that reliance on the FDA’s previous findings of safety and effectiveness is scientifically and legally appropriate, it may eliminate the need to conduct certain preclinical studies or clinical trials of the new product. The FDA may also require companies to perform additional bridging studies or measurements, including clinical trials, to support the change from the previously approved reference drug. The FDA may then approve the new drug candidate for all, or some, of the label indications for which the reference drug has been approved, as well as for any new indication sought by the 505(b)(2) applicant.
Hatch-Waxman patent certification and the 30-month stay
In seeking approval for a drug through an NDA, applicants are required to list with the FDA each patent whose claims cover the applicant’s product. Upon approval of a drug, each of the patents listed in the application for the drug is then published in the FDA’s Orange Book.
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When an ANDA applicant files its application with the FDA, the applicant is required to certify to the FDA concerning any patents listed for the reference product in the Orange Book, except for patents covering methods of use for which the ANDA applicant is not seeking approval. To the extent that the Section 505(b)(2) applicant is relying on studies conducted for an already approved product, the applicant is required to certify to the FDA concerning any patents listed for the approved product in the Orange Book to the same extent that would be required of an ANDA applicant. Specifically, the applicant must certify that (i) the required patent information has not been filed; (ii) the listed patent has expired; (iii) the listed patent has not expired but will expire on a particular date and approval is sought after patent expiration; or (iv) the listed patent is invalid or will not be infringed by the new product. The ANDA applicant may also elect to submit a statement certifying that its proposed ANDA label does not contain (or carve out) any language regarding the patented method-of-use rather than certify to a listed method-of-use patent, known as a Section VIII statement. If the applicant does not challenge the listed patents, the ANDA application will not be approved until all the listed patents claiming the referenced product have expired. A certification that the new product will not infringe the already approved product’s listed patents, or that such patents are invalid, is called a Paragraph IV certification. If the ANDA applicant has provided a Paragraph IV certification to the FDA, the applicant must also send notice of the Paragraph IV certification to the NDA and patent holders once the ANDA has been accepted for filing by the FDA. The NDA and patent holders may then initiate a patent infringement lawsuit in response to the notice of the Paragraph IV certification. The filing of a patent infringement lawsuit within 45 days of the receipt of a Paragraph IV certification automatically prevents the FDA from approving the ANDA until the earlier of 30 months, expiration of the patent, settlement of the lawsuit or a decision in the infringement case that is favorable to the ANDA applicant.
Exclusivity under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments
In addition, under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, the FDA may not approve an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA referencing a particular drug until any applicable period of non-patent exclusivity for the RLD has expired. The FDCA provides a period of five years of non-patent data exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity (NCE). For the purposes of this provision, an NCE is a drug that contains no active moiety that has previously been approved by the FDA in any other NDA. An active moiety is the molecule or ion responsible for the physiological or pharmacological action of the drug substance. In cases where such NCE exclusivity has been granted, an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA may not be submitted to the FDA until the expiration of five years from the date the NDA is approved, unless the submission is accompanied by a Paragraph IV certification, in which case the applicant may submit its application four years following the original product approval.
The FDCA also provides for a period of three years of exclusivity if the NDA includes reports of one or more new clinical investigations, other than bioavailability or bioequivalence studies, that were conducted by or for the applicant and are essential to the approval of the application. This three-year exclusivity period often protects changes to a previously approved drug product, such as a new dosage form, route of administration, combination or indication. Three-year exclusivity would be available for a drug product that contains a previously approved active moiety, provided the statutory requirement for a new clinical investigation is satisfied. Unlike five-year NCE exclusivity, an award of three-year exclusivity does not block the FDA from accepting ANDAs or 505(b)(2) NDAs seeking approval for generic versions of the drug as of the date of approval of the original drug product; it does, however, block the FDA from approving ANDAs or 505(b)(2) NDAs during the period of exclusivity. The FDA typically makes decisions about awards of data exclusivity shortly before a product is approved.
Biosimilars and reference product exclusivity
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCIA) created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological product candidates shown to be highly similar, or “biosimilar,” to or interchangeable with an FDA licensed reference biological product. Biosimilarity, which requires that a product is highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components, and that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity, and potency, can generally be shown through analytical studies, animal studies, and a clinical study or studies. Interchangeability requires that a product is biosimilar to the reference product and the product must demonstrate that it can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products that are administered multiple times to an individual, the interchangeable biosimilar and the reference biological product may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biological product. A product shown to be biosimilar or interchangeable with an FDA-approved reference biological product may rely in part on the FDA’s previous determination of safety and effectiveness for the reference product for approval, which can potentially reduce the cost and time required to obtain approval to market the product. Complexities associated with the larger, and often more complex, structures of biological products, as well as the processes by which such products are manufactured, pose significant hurdles and have slowed implementation of the BPCIA by the FDA.
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Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of reference product exclusivity, another company may obtain FDA licensure and market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing that applicant’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of its product. The BPCIA also created certain exclusivity periods for biosimilars approved as interchangeable products. An interchangeable biosimilar product is a biosimilar that, depending on state pharmacy laws, may be substituted for the reference product at the pharmacy without the intervention of the prescribing healthcare professional (similar to how generic drugs are routinely substituted for brand-name drugs). It is possible that the distinction between a biosimilar and interchangeable could be eliminated in the future; the FDA in its Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal for the first time included a request that Congress “eliminate the statutory distinction between the approval standard for biosimilar and interchangeable biosimilar products.”
In the EU and the UK, an abridged procedure is available for the regulatory approval of biosimilars, on the basis of comparability studies to the reference biological medicine to substantiate the safety and efficacy profile of the biosimilar product. This comparability with the reference biological medicinal product is only available after the period of regulatory data protection has expired namely eight years after the grant of the marketing authorization of the reference biological medicinal product has expired. Recently, the MHRA and the EMA have stated that comparative data may not be required across all therapeutic indications and may be extrapolated to other indications already approved for the reference medicinal product. The interchangeability of biosimilars remains subject to national determination, on a case-by-case basis; however a recent scientific recommendation by the EMA may lead to a default assumption of interchangeability across all biosimilars in the EU and in the UK.
Pediatric studies and exclusivity
Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003, an NDA, BLA or supplement thereto must contain data that are adequate to assess the safety and effectiveness of the drug or biological product for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations, and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. With enactment of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012 (FDASIA), sponsors must also submit pediatric study plans prior to the assessment data.
Those plans must contain an outline of the proposed pediatric study or studies the applicant plans to conduct, including study objectives and design, any deferral or waiver requests, and other information required by regulation. The applicant, the FDA and the FDA’s internal review committee must then review the information submitted, consult with each other and agree upon a final plan. The FDA or the applicant may request an amendment to the plan at any time.
The FDA may, on its own initiative or at the request of the applicant, grant deferrals for submission of some or all pediatric data until after approval of the product for use in adults, or full or partial waivers from the pediatric data requirements. Additional requirements and procedures relating to deferral requests and requests for extension of deferrals are contained in the FDASIA. Unless otherwise required by regulation, the pediatric data requirements do not apply to products with Orphan Drug Designation.
Pediatric exclusivity is another type of non-patent marketing exclusivity in the United States and, if granted, provides for the attachment of an additional six months of marketing protection to the term of any existing regulatory exclusivity, including the non-patent and orphan exclusivity. This six-month exclusivity may be granted if an NDA sponsor submits pediatric data that fairly respond to a written request from the FDA for such data. The data do not need to show the product to be effective in the pediatric population studied; rather, if the clinical trial is deemed to fairly respond to the FDA’s request, the additional protection is granted. If reports of requested pediatric studies are submitted to and accepted by the FDA within the statutory time limits, whatever statutory or regulatory periods of exclusivity or patent protection cover the product are extended by six months. This is not a patent term extension, but it effectively extends the regulatory period during which the FDA cannot approve another application.
Under the European Pediatric Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006), which has also been reflected in and retained by UK law, applicants must submit to the national competent authority or the EMA data from pediatric studies in compliance with an agreed PIP for the validation or acceptance of a marketing authorization application, unless the medicine is exempt because of a deferral or waiver. The conduct of the pediatric studies in accordance with the agreed PIP will result in the grant of a reward (period of protection) which will depend on the type of product (i.e., orphan medicinal product will benefit from an extension of the orphan exclusivity by two years, bringing it to 12 years of marketing exclusivity; or an extension of the supplementary protection certificate by six months).
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Patent term extension
After NDA approval, owners of relevant drug or biological product patents may apply for up to a five-year patent extension, which permits patent term restoration as compensation for the patent term lost during the FDA regulatory process. The allowable patent term extension is typically calculated as one-half the time between the effective date of an IND application and the submission date of a NDA or BLA, plus the time between submission date and the approval date of the NDA or BLA, up to a maximum of five years. The time can be shortened if the FDA determines that the applicant did not pursue approval with due diligence. The total patent term after the extension may not exceed 14 years from the date of product approval. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug or biological product is eligible for extension and only those claims covering the approved drug or biological product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent in question. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements.
In the EU and the UK, a patent may be extended by up to a maximum of five years and the protection conferred by the certificate shall extend only to the product covered by the authorization to place the corresponding medicinal product on the market (in the EU and UK) and for any use of the product as a medicinal product that has been authorized before the expiry of the certificate. The aim is to compensate for the erosion of patent term between the filing of a patent and the grant of an MA for a medicinal product incorporating the relevant invention. The term of a supplementary protection certification may be extended by a further six months if the pediatric studies have been conducted in accordance with an agreed PIP within the applicable timeframe.
Foreign regulation
In addition to regulations in the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of our drug candidates to the extent we choose to sell any products outside of the United States. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain approval of a product by regulatory authorities of foreign countries before we can commence clinical trials or marketing of the product in those countries. The approval process varies from country to country and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval. The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from country to country. As in the United States, post-approval regulatory requirements, such as those regarding product manufacture, marketing or distribution would apply to any product that is approved outside the United States.
We will also be subject to certain ex-U.S. privacy laws in connection with our clinical trial activities outside the United States such as the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), non-compliance with which could result in administrative fines of up to the greater of 4% of global annual revenues or €20.0 million (under the EU GDPR) or £17.5m (under the UK GDPR). The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR.
Reimbursement of medicines in Europe
In the EU, pricing and reimbursement methods can differ in each Member State. Some Member States and the UK may require that health technology assessments (HTA) be completed for the product to be recommended for funding under the NHS. The outcome of HTAs is decided on a national basis and some Member States may decide not to reimburse the use of medicines or may reduce the rate of reimbursement. As of January 12, 2025, EU Health Technology Regulation No. 2021/2282 has become applicable in respect of new oncology medicines. Regulation 2021/2282 imposes a new procedure, a joint clinical assessment at a centralized level, as a mandatory step for the assessment of the pricing and reimbursement of medicinal products by national authorities. It requires companies applying for products in scope to make relevant submissions for the joint clinical assessment, in line with a number of prespecified criteria. In the UK, NICE is the body in England and Wales, which conducts HTAs and issues guidance on whether a product is considered to be “cost-effective” and therefore recommended for use and reimbursement under the national health service. This means that if a positive recommendation has been obtained, then the medicinal product will be widely available to patients in England and Wales. For avoidance of doubt, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own HTA bodies which will conduct their own assessment.
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Other healthcare laws
Although we do not currently have any products on the market, in addition to FDA restrictions on marketing of pharmaceutical and biological products, we are also subject to healthcare statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by the U.S. federal and state governments. Even though we are not in a position to make patient referrals and do not bill Medicare, Medicaid or other government or commercial third-party payers, our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will subject us to healthcare statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by federal and state governments. These laws include anti-kickback statutes, false claims statutes and other healthcare laws and regulations.
The federal Anti-Kickback Statute is a broad criminal statute that prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving any remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce, or in return for, purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for, referring, or recommending the purchase, lease or order of any healthcare item or service that may be reimbursable, in whole or in part, under Medicare, Medicaid, or other federal healthcare programs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (collectively, the ACA) amended the intent element of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute to clarify that a person or entity need not have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to commit a violation. Among others, this statute applies to arrangements between pharmaceutical and biological product manufacturers on the one hand and prescribers, pharmacies, purchasers and formulary managers on the other, including, for example, consulting/speaking arrangements, discount and rebate offers, grants, charitable contributions and patient support offerings. A violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute includes, per violation, civil monetary penalties and significant criminal fines under the statute, additional civil penalties and treble damages under the False Claims Act, as discussed in more detail below, possible imprisonment, and mandatory exclusion from participation in the federal healthcare programs, meaning that federal healthcare programs would no longer reimburse (directly or indirectly) for products or services furnished by the excluded entity or individuals. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common activities from prosecution or other regulatory sanctions under the law, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly and practices that involve remuneration intended to induce prescribing, purchases or recommendations may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor.
The federal civil False Claims Act prohibits, among other things, any person or entity from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim for payment to the federal government, or knowingly making, or causing to be made, a false record or statement material to a false claim. The False Claims Act covers claims made to programs where the federal government reimburses (directly or indirectly) individuals and entities, such as under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as programs where the federal government is a direct purchaser, such as when it purchases off of the Federal Supply Schedule. The law also prohibits avoiding, decreasing or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal government. The government can bring claims directly or through a civil whistleblower or qui tam action, and potential liability includes mandatory treble damages and significant per claim penalties currently set at $14,308 up to $28,619 per false claim or statement for penalties assessed after July 3, 2025. Numerous pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been investigated under these laws for purportedly, among other things, concealing price concessions in the pricing information submitted to the government for government price reporting purposes, and for allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product. In addition, certain marketing practices, including off-label promotion, may also violate false claims laws. Additionally, the ACA amended the federal Anti-Kickback Statute such that a violation of that statute can serve as a basis for liability under the federal False Claims Act. Most states also have statutes or regulations similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, which apply to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs, or, in several states, apply to commercially reimbursed items or services or regardless of whether reimbursement from a federal or state healthcare program is available for the item or service. There is also the federal criminal False Claims Act, which is similar to the federal civil False Claims Act and imposes criminal liability on those that make or present a false, fictitious or fraudulent claim to the federal government.
Other federal statutes pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse include the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which prohibits, among other things, the offer or payment of remuneration to a Medicaid or Medicare beneficiary that the offeror or payor knows or should know is likely to influence the beneficiary to order or receive a reimbursable item or service from a particular provider, practitioner or supplier (although pharmaceutical and biological product manufacturers are not considered providers, practitioners or suppliers for purposes of this law), and contracting with an individual or entity that the person knows or should know is excluded from participation in a federal healthcare program. In addition, federal criminal statutes created by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) prohibit, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing or attempting to execute a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or obtain by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises of any money or property owned by or under the control of any healthcare benefit program in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services.
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In addition, HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and their respective implementing regulations, including the Final Omnibus Rule published on January 25, 2013, imposes obligations on certain healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses, known as covered entities, as well as their business associates that perform certain services involving the storage, use or disclosure of individually identifiable health information, including mandatory contractual terms, requirements to facilitate certain patient rights, requirements to safeguard the privacy, security, and transmission of individually identifiable health information, and requirements to provide notice to affected individuals and regulatory authorities of certain breaches of security of individually identifiable health information. HITECH increased the civil and criminal penalties that may be imposed against covered entities, business associates and possibly other persons, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal HIPAA laws and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions. On December 10, 2020, the Office of Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued proposed revisions to the HIPAA Privacy Rule aimed at reducing regulatory burdens that may exist in discouraging coordination of care and patient access to their health information, among other changes, which could affect not just covered entities and business associates, but broader entities in the life sciences space. Moreover, on December 27, 2024, HHS issued proposed revisions to the HIPAA Security Rule aimed at strengthening required cybersecurity protections for protected health information. While a final rule has not yet been issued for either proposed rule, if adopted, these proposed changes may require us to update our policies and procedures to comply with the new requirements. In addition, many state laws govern the privacy and security of health information and other personal information in certain circumstances (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, and similar state privacy laws in several other states, along with health privacy focused laws such as the Washington My Health My Data Act), and these state laws may differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect. These laws are rapidly evolving and may impose additional regulatory compliance burden and legal risks on our operations.
Further, pursuant to the ACA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has promulgated regulations to implement what is commonly known as the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which requires applicable manufacturers of covered drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, among others, to collect and report information on certain payments or transfers of value they make to U.S.-licensed physicians, teaching hospitals, physician assistants, nurse practitioners or clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologist assistants and certified nurse-midwives, as well as investment interests in the manufacturer held by physicians and their immediate family members. The reports must be submitted on an annual basis, and the reported data is made available in searchable form on a public website. Failure to submit required information may result in civil monetary penalties.
In addition, several states require prescription drug and biological product companies to report certain expenses relating to the marketing and promotion of drug and biological products and to report gifts and payments to individual healthcare practitioners in these states. Other states prohibit various marketing-related activities, such as the provision of certain kinds of gifts or meals. Still other states require the posting of information relating to clinical studies and their outcomes. Some states require the reporting of certain pricing information, including information pertaining to and justifying price increases, prohibit prescription drug price gouging, or impose payment caps on certain pharmaceutical products deemed by the state to be “high cost.” In addition, states such as California, Connecticut, Nevada and Massachusetts require pharmaceutical companies to implement compliance programs and/or marketing codes. Several additional states are considering similar proposals. Certain states and local jurisdictions also require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives. Compliance with these laws is difficult and time consuming, and companies that do not comply with these state laws face civil penalties.
Efforts to ensure that business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations involve substantial costs. If a company’s operations are found to be in violation of any such requirements, it may be subject to significant penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, the curtailment or restructuring of its operations, loss of eligibility to obtain approvals from the FDA, exclusion from participation in government contracting, healthcare reimbursement or other federal or state government healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, imprisonment, and reputational harm. Although effective compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws, these risks cannot be entirely eliminated. Any action for an alleged or suspected violation can cause a company to incur significant legal expenses and divert management’s attention from the operation of the business, even if such action is successfully defended.
In the EU and the UK companies must comply with national general anti-bribery legislation, including the UK Bribery Act 2010, as well as medicines legislation which prohibits the supply, offer or promise of certain gifts and benefits in connection with the promotion of medicinal products to any person qualified to prescribe, recommend, use, procure or supply them. Companies that breach these laws may incur substantial fines and imprisonment.
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In the EU and the UK, payments made to healthcare professionals must be publicly disclosed under applicable transparency provisions and agreements with healthcare professionals must be the subject of prior notification and approval by the healthcare professional’s employer. Such requirements are set out in national laws, industry codes or professional codes of conduct, applicable in the EU Member States and in the UK. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in reputational risk, public reprimands, administrative penalties, fines or imprisonment.
U.S. healthcare reform
In the United States there have been, and continue to be, proposals by the federal government, state governments, regulators and third-party payors to control or manage the costs of healthcare and, more generally, to reform the U.S. healthcare system. The pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. For example, in March 2010, the ACA was enacted, which was intended to substantially change the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacts the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, (i) proscribed a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs and therapeutic biologics that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, (ii) increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and extended the rebate program to individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, (iii) established annual nondeductible fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs and therapeutic biologics, apportioned among these entities according to their market share in certain government healthcare programs, (iv) expanded eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs by, among other things, allowing states to offer Medicaid coverage to additional individuals and by adding new mandatory eligibility categories for individuals with income at or below 138% of the federal poverty level, thereby potentially increasing manufacturers’ Medicaid rebate liability, (v) expanded the entities eligible for discounts under the 340B Public Health program, (vi) required annual reporting of certain information regarding drug samples that manufacturers and distributors provide to licensed practitioners, (vii) created a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research, and (viii) established a Center for Medicare Innovation at CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, potentially including prescription drug spending. Some of these cost-savings pilots and projects, such as the Enhancing Oncology Model, are directed specifically at oncology.
The ACA and certain of its provisions have been subject to judicial challenges as well as legislative and regulatory efforts to repeal or replace them, to alter their interpretation, or to otherwise impact the implementation of the ACA. For example, on March 11, 2021, Congress enacted the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which included among its provisions a sunset of the ACA’s cap on pharmaceutical manufacturers’ rebate liability under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. Under the ACA, manufacturers’ rebate liability was capped at 100% of the average manufacturer price for a covered outpatient drug. Effective January 1, 2024, manufacturers’ MDRP rebate liability is no longer capped, meaning manufacturers may pay more in MDRP rebates than they receive on the sale of certain covered outpatient drugs. The American Rescue Plan Act also temporarily increased premium tax credit assistance for individuals eligible for subsidies under the ACA for 2021 and 2022 and removed the 400% federal poverty level limit that otherwise applies for purposes of eligibility to receive premium tax credits. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) extended this increased tax credit assistance and removal of the 400% federal poverty limit through 2025. This tax credit assistance expired on December 31, 2025, and additional action from Congress would be needed to restore such assistance in the future. In the future, there may be additional challenges and/or amendments to the ACA. It remains to be seen precisely what any new legislation will provide, when or if it will be enacted, and what impact it will have on the availability and cost of healthcare items and services, including drug and biological products.
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Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted to reduce healthcare expenditures. These changes include the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, among other things, led to aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year that started in 2013 and, due to subsequent statutory amendments, will remain in effect through the first eleven months of the fiscal year 2032 sequestration order unless additional congressional action is taken, with the exception of a temporary suspension, and later a temporary reduction instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic that expired on July 1, 2022. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 made other changes, including the reduction of Medicare payments to several types of providers and an increase in the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. Additionally, in August 2022, President Biden signed into law the IRA, which implements substantial changes to the Medicare program, including drug pricing reforms and changes to the Medicare Part D benefit design. Among other reforms, the IRA imposes inflation rebates on drug and biological product manufacturers for products reimbursed under Medicare Parts B and D if the prices of those products increase faster than inflation beginning in 2023; implements changes to the Medicare Part D benefit that, beginning in 2025, caps benefit annual out-of-pocket spending at $2,000, with new discount obligations for pharmaceutical manufacturers; and, beginning in 2026, establishes a “maximum fair price” for a fixed number of pharmaceutical and biological products covered under Medicare Parts B and D following a price negotiation process with the CMS. CMS has also taken steps to implement the IRA, including releasing the negotiated maximum prices, which are effective in 2026 for the first ten drugs that were subject to the IRA’s negotiation process, as well as the negotiated maximum prices for fifteen additional drugs to be effective in 2027, and releasing quarterly lists of Medicare Part B products that are subject to adjusted coinsurance rates based on the inflationary rebate provisions of the IRA. While it remains to be seen how the drug pricing provisions imposed by the IRA will affect the broader pharmaceutical industry, several pharmaceutical manufacturers and other industry stakeholders have challenged the law, including through lawsuits brought against the HHS, the Secretary of the HHS, CMS, and the CMS Administrator challenging the constitutionality and administrative implementation of the IRA’s drug price negotiation provisions.
If federal spending is further reduced, anticipated budgetary shortfalls may also impact the ability of relevant agencies, such as the FDA or the NIH to continue to function at current levels. Amounts allocated to federal grants and contracts may be reduced or eliminated. These reductions may also impact the ability of relevant agencies to timely review and approve research and development, manufacturing, and marketing activities which may delay our ability to develop, market and sell any products we may develop.
Additionally, the cost of prescription pharmaceuticals and biological products has been the subject of considerable discussion in the United States. For example, President Trump has signed multiple executive orders addressing prescription drug pricing and access, including: on April 15, 2025, outlining several actions the Secretary of the Department of HHS must take to optimize healthcare regulations that will provide access to prescription drugs at lower costs; on May 5, 2025, aiming to promote domestic production of critical medicines; and on May 12, 2025, aiming to establish a “most favored nation” drug pricing policy that would tie U.S. drug prices to the prices paid for drugs in other countries. Since the May 12, 2025 “most favored nation” executive order, the Trump administration has continued to exert pressure on drug manufacturers to implement “most favored nation” pricing, including by suggesting that the administration may impose significant tariffs on pharmaceuticals if such manufacturers do not reach agreements to implement “most favored nation” pricing. Additionally, in November 2025, CMS announced a new voluntary payment initiative called the GENEROUS Model (GENErating cost Reductions for U.S. Medicaid Model) where drug manufacturers may voluntarily offer supplemental rebates to participating state Medicaid programs that are intended to provide such Medicaid programs with a “most favored nation” price for participating manufacturers’ products. Moreover, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug and biological product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient support programs, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and biological products under Medicare and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug and biological products. It remains to be seen how these drug pricing initiatives will affect the broader pharmaceutical industry.
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At the state level, legislatures are increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures and, in some cases, to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. For example, on January 5, 2024, the FDA approved Florida’s importation plan to allow pharmacists and wholesalers in the state to import certain medications from Canada. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize any product that is ultimately approved, if approved. In addition, several state laws require disclosures related to state agencies and/or commercial purchasers with respect to price increases and new product launches that exceed certain levels as identified in the relevant statutes. Another emerging trend at the state level is the establishment of prescription drug affordability boards, some of which will prospectively permit certain states to establish upper payment limits for drugs that the state has determined to be “high-cost.” Prescription drug affordability boards in several states, including Colorado, Maryland, Oregon, and Washington, have begun identifying products for affordability reviews and issuing information requests to manufacturers to determine whether upper payment limits may be justified. Some of these state laws and regulations contain ambiguous requirements that government officials have not yet clarified. Given the lack of clarity in the laws and their implementation, our future reporting actions could be subject to the penalty provisions of the pertinent federal and state laws and regulations.
Additionally, on May 30, 2018, the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017 was signed into law. The law, among other things, provides a federal framework for certain patients to access certain investigational new drug or biological products that have completed a Phase 1 clinical trial and that are undergoing investigation for FDA approval. Under certain circumstances, eligible patients can seek treatment without enrolling in clinical trials and without obtaining FDA authorization under an FDA expanded access program; however, manufacturers are not obligated to provide investigational new drug or biological products under the current federal right to try law.
Human Capital
As of November 30, 2025, we had 317 full-time or part-time employees, of which approximately 38% have earned an M.D. or a Ph.D. As of November 30, 2025, 257 of our full-time or part-time employees are engaged in research and development. From time to time, we retain independent contractors to support our organization. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by collective bargaining agreements, and we believe our relationship with our employees is good.
We consider the intellectual capital of our employees to be an essential driver of our business. We continually evaluate our business needs and opportunities and strive to balance in-house expertise and capacity with outsourced expertise and capacity. Currently, we outsource substantially all clinical trial work to clinical research organizations and drug substance and finished drug product manufacturing to contract manufacturers.
Competitive pay and benefits
Drug development is a complex endeavor which requires deep expertise and experience across a broad array of disciplines. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies both large and small compete for a limited number of qualified applicants to fill specialized positions. We monitor our compensation programs closely and provide what we consider to be a very competitive mix of compensation, insurance and wellness benefits for all our employees, as well as participation in our equity and other enhanced benefit programs. To attract qualified applicants, we offer a total rewards package consisting of a base salary and cash target bonus, a comprehensive benefits package and equity compensation for all full-time and part-time employees. Bonus opportunity and equity compensation increase as a percentage of total compensation based on level of responsibility. Actual bonus payout is based on company and individual performance.
Diversity and inclusion
We are committed to creating and maintaining a workplace free from discrimination or harassment on the basis of color, race, sex, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification or expression or any other status protected by applicable law. Our management team and employees are expected to exhibit and promote honest, ethical and respectful conduct in the workplace. All of our employees must adhere to a code of conduct that sets standards for appropriate behavior and are required to attend biennial training to help prevent, identify, report and stop any type of discrimination and harassment. Recruitment, hiring, development, training, compensation and advancement at our company is based on qualifications, performance, skills and experience without regard to gender, race and ethnicity.
As of November 30, 2025, approximately 55% of our full-time and part-time employees were self-reported as female. Of our vice president-level and above employees, approximately 45% were self-reported as female.
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In addition, as of November 30, 2025, approximately 50% of our full-time employees were self-reported as ethnic or racial minorities in the United States, with approximately 41% Asian, 2% Black or African American, 7% Hispanic or Latino and 1% of other minority groups or two or more races. Of our vice president-level and above employees, approximately 33% were self-reported as ethnic or racial minorities in the United States, with approximately 30% Asian and 3% Black or African American.
Employee development and training
We focus on attracting, retaining and cultivating talented individuals. We emphasize employee development and training by providing access to a wide range of online and instructor led development and continual learning programs. Employees are encouraged to attend scientific, clinical and technological meetings and conferences and have access to broad resources they need to be successful.
Board of Directors oversight
Our Board of Directors (Board) recognizes the critical importance of our team and the necessity to ensure a diverse, inclusive, and innovative work environment that is centered around a values-based culture. Our Board meets regularly with management to discuss issues impacting our employees, and to focus on ways to support our workforce. Our focus on culture comes from our Board and flows throughout our company. In evaluating our Chief Executive Officer and management team, significant emphasis is placed on their contributions to our overall culture.
Our Board’s Compensation Committee is responsible for reviewing with management our human resources activities, which include, among other things, matters relating to employee development, management and engagement, pay equity, and our demographics, diversity and inclusion.
Our Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is responsible for overseeing company programs relating to corporate responsibility and sustainability, including environmental, social and governance matters.
Corporate Information
We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in August 2009 under the name Kura Therapeutics, Inc. We subsequently changed our name to Nurix, Inc. in February 2012 and then to Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. in October 2018. Our principal executive offices are located at 1600 Sierra Point Parkway, Brisbane, California 94005, and our telephone number is (415) 660-5320.
The mark “Nurix” is our registered trademark in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Nurix logo is our common law trademark. All other service marks, trademarks and trade names appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, the trademarks and trade names referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names.
Additional Information
Nurix’s Internet website address is http://www.nurixtx.com. On our website, we make available, free of charge, our annual, quarterly and current reports, including amendments to such reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports as well as other information regarding us and other companies that file materials with the SEC electronically.
Also available on our website is information relating to corporate governance at Nurix and our Board, including our Corporate Governance Guidelines; our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (for our directors, officers and employees); and our Board Committee Charters. We will provide any of the foregoing information without charge upon written request to our Corporate Secretary, Nurix Therapeutics, Inc., 1600 Sierra Point Parkway, Brisbane, California 94005.
We use our Investor Relations website (http://ir.nurixtx.com) as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD promulgated by the SEC. These disclosures are included in the “News” and “Events and Presentations” sections of our website. Accordingly, investors should monitor these portions of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.
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The information contained on our website does not constitute, and shall not be deemed to constitute, a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. Our references to the URLs for websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.
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