Eli Lilly and Company announced on January 8 that its drugs Taltz and Zepbound used together delivered superior efficacy in a first-of-its-kind Phase 3b trial for adults with active psoriatic arthritis and obesity or overweight. The TOGETHER-PsA study met its primary endpoint of 50% improvement in psoriatic arthritis activity based on ACR50 at 36 weeks, along with at least 10% weight drop with the combination compared to Taltz alone.
In a key secondary endpoint, the use of Taltz and Zepbound resulted in a 64% relative growth in the proportion of patients achieving ACR50 compared to Taltz monotherapy. Management stated that Taltz is now the first and only biologic for psoriatic arthritis with data supporting a potential comprehensive treatment approach.
On January 9, Jefferies reaffirmed a Buy rating on Eli Lilly and set a price target of $1,300.00. This rating update followed the trial announcement.
Separately, Eli Lilly announced on January 7 that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ventyx Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative oral therapies for inflammatory-mediated diseases. The terms involve Eli Lilly acquiring all outstanding shares of Ventyx for $14.00 per share of common stock in an all-cash transaction, representing an aggregate equity value of approximately $1.2 billion.
Eli Lilly and Company develops, manufactures, discovers, and sells pharmaceutical products across oncology, diabetes, immunology, neuroscience, and other therapies.