Nurix Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NRIX) said its global collaboration with Roche to co-develop and co-commercialize bexobrutideg (NX-5948) has become effective following expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
Roche paid Nurix a USD 700 million upfront cash payment when the deal was first announced, with Nurix eligible for up to USD 2.3 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones — a potential total of USD 3 billion, according to Nurix's disclosures in its second-quarter 2026 financial report. Development costs will be split 40% Nurix and 60% Roche, with the two companies dividing US profits and losses equally. Outside the United States, Roche will handle commercialization and pay Nurix royalties ranging from the low- to high-teens.
Bexobrutideg is an oral, brain-penetrant small molecule that degrades Bruton's tyrosine kinase rather than merely inhibiting it. The molecule recruits an E3 ubiquitin ligase to tag BTK protein for destruction via the proteasome, a mechanism Nurix originated using its DELigase discovery platform. Unlike covalent inhibitors such as ibrutinib, acalabrutinib and zanubrutinib, which lose activity against the C481S resistance mutation, degradation eliminates the BTK protein entirely, including its non-catalytic scaffolding functions — a distinction Nurix and Roche are betting will support use in patients who progress on existing BTK inhibitors.
The asset is furthest along in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, where it is being tested in the pivotal, single-arm DAYBreak CLL-201 study and the earlier-stage NX-5948-301 trial in relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies. Nurix and Roche plan a randomized Phase III trial, DAYBreak CLL-306, pitting bexobrutideg against pirtobrutinib, alongside a combination study with venetoclax (NX-5948-203). A tablet formulation is in first-in-human testing in healthy volunteers to support expansion into multiple sclerosis and chronic spontaneous urticaria, positioning bexobrutideg for hematology immunology neurology treatment across three distinct disease categories under a single molecule.