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Lilly shuffles business structure; Novartis writes off part of Avidity deal. Lilly intends to merge its U.S. and international divisions when a top executive retires. Elsewhere, Astellas closed in on what it believes to be a "best-in-class" cancer immunotherapy prospect. Published Oct. 28, 2026 By BioPharma Dive staff Today, a brief rundown of news involving Eli Lilly and Novartis, as well as updates from Astellas Pharma, Pfizer and Bolt Biotherapeutics that you may have missed. Patrik Jonsson will retire from Eli Lilly at the end of 2026, completing a 36-year run at the Indianapolis-based drugmaker. Jonsson started at Lilly as a sales representative in Sweden in 1990 and rose through the ranks to eventually lead the company's global pharmaceutical business, "Lilly International." Once he steps down, Lilly's U.S. and international divisions will combine into an entity called "Lilly Global Markets" and be headed by Ilya Yuffa, a Lilly executive vice president and head of global customer capabilities. The new structure will "accelerate decision-making, increase scalability" and help broaden access to medicines globally, Lilly said. - Ben Fidler Novartis will take a $1.9 billion impairment charge after seeing an experimental drug it acquired in a $12 billion buyout of Avidity Biosciences fail a late-stage trial in August. The Swiss drugmaker revealed the write-off in its latest quarterly earnings report Tuesday, which included sales figures that topped Wall Street's expectations and news that the company hiked its 2026 financial forecasts. Novartis is facing multiple key patent expirations in the near future and is looking to key drugs in its late-stage pipeline, like Avidity's del-desiran, to spur future growth. Though that drug fell short in a study in a rare muscle-wasting disease, the company hasn't given up on its approval chances. An open-label extension to that trial is ongoing, and executives told analysts Tuesday that they assume Novartis will need to run an additional Phase 3 study. - Delilah Alvarado Astellas Pharma has secured from Australian biotech Audax Biosciences an option to license an experimental cancer immunotherapy nearing human testing. Called DAX-044, the therapy is an "antibody-cytokine fusion" designed to deliver the immune protein IL-12 into cancer cells. In a statement, Astellas said DAX-044 has "best-in-class" potential. The deal involves $285 million in up front and future option payments, and could include another $1.05 billion in additional consideration if certain milestones are met. Phase 1 testing should begin in 2027, Astellas said. - Ben Fidler The Food and Drug Administration has expanded use of a two-drug regimen involving Pfizer's cancer medicine Talzenna and the hormone therapy Xtandi. The combination was first approved in 2023 for certain patients with metastatic prostate cancer who'd stopped responding to hormone treatments. The new clearance makes treatment available earlier, when the benefits might be greater. The approval was based on study results showing the regimen cut the risk of cancer progression or death by more than half when compared to Xtandi and a placebo. - Delilah Alvarado Prana Therapeutics is going public through a reverse merger with Bolt Biotherapeutics. The stock-for-stock deal announced Friday came alongside a $120 million private financing that'll help fund the company through 2027 and into the following year. Prana is developing multi-pronged antibody drugs designed to last longer and require infrequent dosing. Its lead asset, PRA-216, zeroes in on the proteins TSLP and IL-4Rα and is in mid-stage testing for atopic dermatitis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A second prospect is also being developed for atopic dermatitis but aims at a different target, IL-31. Data from first-in-human studies are expected next year. - Delilah Alvarado

Combining 2 vegf-blocking targeted therapies significantly boosted survival in kidney cancer study. Wednesday, October 28, 2026 - 08:00 am Clinical trial assessing bevacizumab-pazopanib combination focused on patients with untreated metastatic disease Highlights * Landmark study extended both progression-free and overall survival * Regimen found to be safe and effective, especially in favorable-risk patients * Results published today in The Lancet Oncology BUFFALO, N.Y. - Results of a phase 1/2 trial led by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center show that combining the targeted therapies bevacizumab (Avastin) and pazopanib (Votrient) significantly extends both progression-free and overall survival in patients with the most common type of kidney cancer. Saby George, MD, FACP, Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine, is principal investigator of the trial and first author of the study, newly published in The Lancet Oncology. The strongest benefit was seen in favorable-risk patients, who made up the majority of the 51 patients enrolled in the nationwide clinical trial, NCT01684397, conducted at five academic cancer centers. "This novel regimen of pazopanib alternating with bevacizumab was found to be safe and efficacious in untreated patients with advanced clear cell kidney cancer," says Dr. George. "The regimen was also reasonably well-tolerated by patients, and delayed development of treatment resistance leading to prolonged progression-free survival." When pazopanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is given alone as the firstline treatment for patients with previously untreated metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC), median progression-free survival is just 9.2 months, and overall survival ranges from 28.4 to 29.3 months. After treatment with both bevacizumab and pazopanib, 51 patients in the phase 2 portion of the clinical trial had a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 24.8 months and median overall survival (OS) of 63.2 months after a median follow-up of 63.7 months. But 33 of the 51 patients - categorized as at "favorable risk" according to the guidelines ofthe International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium (IMDC) - fared even better, with a PFS of 28.5 months and OS of 76.9 months. This improvement is noteworthy because while patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma are typically treated with immunotherapy/TKI combination therapies, which can improve both progression-free and overall survival, these combinations fail to show significant improvement in overall survival in favorable-risk patients. "The benefit from this novel regimen of pazopanib and bevacizumab was comparable to or better than that of the contemporary immunotherapy combinations in the favorable-risk patients," notes Dr. George. "This is significant due to the lower cost of this regimen compared to the immunotherapy combinations." The researchers believe this is the first clinical trial in kidney cancer to demonstrate both safety and efficacy using a combination of two drugs that both block vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein that promotes the growth of new blood vessels that can "feed" the tumor with oxygen and nutrients. When multi-targeted TKIs like pazopanib are used alone, drug resistance increases with every treatment cycle, due partly to rising VEGF ligand levels. But bevacizumab, a targeted monoclonal antibody, binds to VEGF and actually removes it from circulation. Phase 1 of the two-part clinical trial determined the optimal doses for both drugs - 800 mg of pazopanib daily on days 1-28, plus 10 mg/kg of bevacizumab on days 36 and 50 of a 10-week cycle. Phase 2 enrolled 51 treatment-naïve patients who received the recommended phase 2 dose established in the phase 1 portion. High blood pressure and elevated liver enzymes were the most common serious side effects. Dr. George and his colleagues note that this novel combination may also benefit patients who are unable to receive immunotherapy agents, patients whose disease progresses with adjuvant pembrolizumab, and patients in resource-limited countries. Rahul Parikh, MD, PhD, of the University of Kansas is senior author of the study. Sponsored by Roswell Park in collaboration with Novartis, the investigator-initiated clinical trial enrolled patients at Roswell Park, the University of Kansas Cancer Center, Karmanos Cancer Center in Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The research team represented those institutions as well as the Jacobs School of Medicine at the University at Buffalo. Funding for the study was provided by Roswell Park, by the National Cancer Institute through P30CA016056, the NCI's Cancer Center Support Grant to Roswell Park, and Novartis. From the world's first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated and prevented worldwide. The Roswell Park team of 4,000+ makes compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across New York State and beyond. Rated "Exceptional" by the National Cancer Institute, Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country and remains the only one in Upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email [email protected]. Media Contact

Novartis raised its 2026 profit outlook after a strong third quarter. It now expects core operating income to be in line with last year or up by a low single-digit percentage, versus a previous forecast of a low single-digit decline. Net sales rose 4% in constant currency to $14.5 billion. Core operating income climbed 10% to $6 billion, and core earnings per share grew 8% to $2.46. Priority brands rose 29%, led by Kisqali (up 37%), Leqvio (up 63%), and Scemblix (up 67%). Reported operating income fell 61% to $1.8 billion, mainly because of a $1.9 billion partial impairment of Daldesiran after it missed its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial. Free cash flow was $5.1 billion for the quarter. Novartis has bought back $2.8 billion of shares under a program of up to $10 billion.