Lilly scraps trials of Verzenio, Jardiance and a gene therapy from Prevail

As part of its quarterly cleaning, Eli Lilly removed a few trials from its pipeline, including late-stage studies of approved cancer drug Verzenio and its Boehringer Ingelheim-partnered drug Jardiance.

The Indianapolis-based pharma giant also removed a Phase 2 trial of a gene therapy it got through the $1 billion-plus acquisition of Prevail Therapeutics a few years ago. Also out the door is an undisclosed Phase 1 immunology asset, per the company’s first-quarter earnings presentation.

The moves come as Lilly ramped up its R&D spending in the first quarter to $2.52 billion, a 27% increase. It’s also still working through supply hurdles for its diabetes and obesity medications. The potential of the drugs, known as Mounjaro and Zepbound, have propelled Lilly to the largest pharmaceutical company in the world by market capitalization.

Lilly’s share price $LLY was up nearly 7% in Tuesday morning trading.

On the Verzenio front, Lilly said it culled the Phase 3 CYCLONE-3 trial of the cancer drug in patients with hormone sensitive prostate cancer due to futility. The company said it took an approximately $75 million charge in the first quarter due to the prostate cancer program termination.

The move adds to a recent string of disappointments for Verzenio. Earlier this year, Lilly also scrapped a late-stage study of the medicine in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer after it failed to improve progression-free survival. The CDK4/6 inhibitor also missed an overall survival endpoint in advanced breast cancer last December.

Meanwhile, Lilly removed a Phase 3 test of its type 2 diabetes and heart failure drug Jardiance, which it markets with Boehringer Ingelheim. The drug failed the EMPACT-MI study earlier this month, Boehringer reported. Jardiance was not better than placebo at lowering the chances of going to the hospital due to heart failure or all-cause mortality, with just a 10% relative risk reduction shown in the study, Boehringer said April 6.

For the Prevail-acquired GBA1 gene therapy, Lilly said it pulled a Phase 2 study testing the asset in patients with Gaucher disease type 2. The fatal disease disrupts a baby’s brain and causes an enlarged liver and spleen, among other impacts.

Lilly is still testing the gene therapy, known as LY3884961 (formerly PR001), in patients with Gaucher type 1 and Parkinson’s disease with at least one GBA1 mutation. The PROCEED and PROPEL trials, respectively, are still recruiting, as of recent updates to their ClinicalTrials.gov listing.

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