Nxera Pharma’s Partner Centessa Pharmaceuticals to be Acquired by Lilly
- Lilly to gain ownership of Centessa's OX2R agonist pipeline designed to improve outcomes across sleep-wake disorders
- Centessa’s OX2R agonist pipeline was jointly discovered by Nxera and Centessa, and Nxera retains a material economic interest in its future development and commercialization
Tokyo, Japan and Cambridge, UK, 1 April 2026 – Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. (“Nxera” or “the Company”; TSE 4565) announces that its partner, Centessa Pharmaceuticals Limited (“Centessa”), has announced that it entered into a definitive agreement regarding its acquisition by Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”) on 31 March 2026 (US local time).
Please refer to the full text of Centessa’s news release at the link below:
Centessa's orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonist series, cleminorexton (formerly ORX750), ORX142 and ORX489, were jointly discovered by Centessa and Nxera scientists under a collaboration in which Centessa had access to Nxera's proprietary NxStaR™ technology. Nxera is entitled to receive certain milestone payments and royalties in relation to all of these OX2R agonists, and the contractual terms governing those rights are unaffected by this proposed transaction. In addition, Nxera holds an equity interest in Centessa.
Christopher Cargill, President and CEO of Nxera Pharma, commented: “We congratulate Centessa on its success to date advancing its OX2R agonist pipeline into clinical development and demonstrating best-in-class potential to bring improved outcomes to people with sleep-wake disorders. It will be exciting to see these novel candidates advance further under Lilly’s guidance.
“This is yet another example of a world-leading pharmaceutical company acquiring potential medicines with broad therapeutic application that originated in our research laboratory in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a further demonstration of Nxera's rich heritage in CNS drug discovery. Potential medicines born from our NxStaR™ technology and NxWave™ GPCR structure-based drug design platform are now progressing toward late-stage clinical development with several of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. The quality of our science, and the continued external validation of our platform, has never been stronger.
“We carry this momentum forward as we apply the same capabilities to our emerging, wholly owned metabolic and rare endocrine disease pipeline, targeting some of the largest areas of global unmet medical need. Nxera remains committed to delivering new treatment options to patients around the world through innovative science.”
Nxera has a separate multi-target collaboration with Lilly, entered in 2022, to leverage Nxera’s NxWave™ GPCR-focused structure-based drug design capabilities and Lilly’s extensive development, commercialization and therapeutic area expertise in metabolic diseases. The collaboration remains ongoing. Under the terms of that separate agreement, Nxera is eligible to receive development and commercial milestones totalling up to US$694 million, plus tiered royalties on global sales.
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About Nxera Pharma
Nxera Pharma is a technology powered biopharma company in pursuit of new specialty medicines to improve the lives of patients with unmet needs in Japan and globally. The Company has built an agile, new-generation commercial business in Japan to develop and commercialize innovative medicines, including several launched products, to address this high-value, large and growing market and those in the broader APAC region. In addition, the Company is advancing an extensive pipeline internally and in partnership with leading pharma and biotech companies powered by its unique NxWave™ GPCR structure-based drug discovery platform. Nxera Pharma operates at key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea) and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565).
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Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Nxera Pharma Group’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
