Nek­tar sues Lil­ly, claim­ing its in­ter­est in biotech’s au­toim­mune drug ‘waned dra­mat­i­cal­ly’ af­ter buy­ing Der­mi­ra

Nek­tar Ther­a­peu­tics is tak­ing Eli Lil­ly to court in Cal­i­for­nia, say­ing the In­di­anapo­lis-based drug­mak­er mis­han­dled da­ta and “ex­e­cut­ed on a scheme to en­sure that REZPEG would nev­er suc­ceed” af­ter it bought an­oth­er au­toim­mune drug can­di­date.

The law­suit was filed in the US Dis­trict Court for the North­ern Dis­trict of Cal­i­for­nia on Mon­day, the same day the San Fran­cis­co biotech said Lil­ly mis­cal­cu­lat­ed da­ta in an eczema tri­al. Lil­ly axed their six-year, $400 mil­lion pact for the in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al drug, known as rezpe­galdesleukin, or rezpeg, in April.

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