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Lilly's $2.9B deal adds treatments for Graves' disease and food allergies — Aug 31, 2026Eli Lilly is acquiring Merida Biosciences for about $2.88 billion in cash, expanding its immunology and allergic-disease pipeline beyond its obesity drugs, with the deal expected to close in Q4 2026 and marking Lilly’s ongoing aggressive M&A strategy. Merida’s lead program MER511 targets Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease, while MER769 is in preclinical development for food allergy, asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria, underscoring a broadened portfolio as Lilly references roughly $29 billion in upfront and milestone payments this year across acquisitions.

Novartis MS pill beats Aubagio in two large phase 3 trials — Sep 1, 2026Novartis reported positive Phase 3 REMODEL-1 and REMODEL-2 results for the BTK inhibitor remibrutinib in relapsing multiple sclerosis, showing lower annualized relapse rate and meaningful reductions in disability progression versus teriflunomide and prompting worldwide regulatory filings. With remibrutinib already approved for chronic spontaneous urticaria as Rhapsido, the drug’s MS potential could become a major growth driver given its favorable safety profile and strong early sales signals.

Rachel Meyers Teriflunomide isn't the toughest comparator out there, would like to see how remibrutinib stacks up against some of the stronger existing MS drugs before getting too excited.