Burning money to buy 'hope'? Big pharmaceutical companies are once again getting involved in the self exemption track.

Lilly made its latest move at the end of August, acquiring Merida Biosciences, a self immune innovation pharmaceutical company, for $2.88 billion in cash. This is a biotech company that has only been established for four years and its leading asset has just entered Phase I clinical trials.

it happens that there is a similar case. A month earlier, European biotechnology company Argenx also spent $2.2 billion to acquire Nasdaq listed company Forte Biosciences, targeting a candidate drug FB102 that is still in the early clinical stages.

The heat of the self driving track is still spreading. After GLP-1, large pharmaceutical companies have intensively laid out in the areas of self immunization, inflammation, and allergies.

According to incomplete statistics, since 2026, there have been over 15 significant transactions/acquisitions in the field of immunotherapy, with a total amount exceeding 30 billion US dollars. The technology roadmap is focused on multiple directions such as CAR-T, T cell adapters (TCEs), long-acting antibodies, and small molecules.

With the increasing frequency of transactions, from early antibody assets to new immune regulatory mechanisms, a batch of projects that have not yet been commercialized are becoming objects of high price competition for large pharmaceutical companies. Why is self exemption on the rise? What are the next batch of buyers looking for? What role does China's self exempt assets play in this wave?

01. Bet on a new mechanism paradigm

To understand why giants place orders, one must first examine the underlying color of the target being acquired.

Merida, acquired by Eli Lilly, is a Boston based biotech incubated by Third Rock Ventures in 2022. It only emerged from stealth mode in April 2025 for $121 million in Series A funding, with investors including Bain Capital Life Sciences and GV.

Merida has proposed a new approach to treating autoimmune and allergic diseases. Many existing therapies work by suppressing the immune system, while the company's candidate drugs target pathogenic antibodies that interact abnormally with healthy cells.

Specifically, Merida's core Fc biotherapy platform splices the binding domain that recognizes pathogenic antibodies and engineered Fc segments into molecules, selectively capturing pathogenic autoantibodies and directing them towards liver degradation, while inhibiting B cells that produce these antibodies - only clearing the antibodies without harming the normal immune system.

Meanwhile, this platform is modular, and changing the binding domain can lead to a new indication. The company claims that theoretically it can cover over 20 types of antibody mediated diseases.

At present, Merida's first pipeline MER511 targets TSHR (thyroid stimulating hormone receptor) pathogenic autoantibodies for the treatment of Graves' disease (GD) and thyroid eye disease (TED). Phase I clinical trials were launched in December last year.

Francisco Ram í rez Valle, Senior Vice President of Immunology Research and Early Clinical Development at Eli Lilly, stated, "We are building pipelines around therapies that can significantly alter disease progression, rather than just controlling its downstream effects. Merida's leading project is designed with this goal in mind. ”

In other words, Lilly is not only interested in this early pipeline, but also in the mechanisms that support multiple future indications, as well as the reusability of the "multi-point flowering" brought by this new mechanism.

Argenx's acquisition of Forte is also a similar move. The core pipeline FB102 under Forte, as a first of its kind anti-CD122 antibody, has obtained clinical concept validation in indications for vitiligo and celiac disease, and has the potential to expand to various autoimmune diseases such as alopecia areata.

The CD122 target regulates the IL-12/IL-15 signaling pathway to inhibit inflammatory responses related to activated T cells, memory T cells, and NK cells, while retaining the supportive effect of the IL-2/CD25 pathway on Treg cells, achieving more precise and safe immune regulation.

LucidQuest Ventures, a consulting firm, pointed out that immunology mergers and acquisitions are increasingly betting on biological scalability, and this acquisition logic is rewriting the "economic account" of immunology business development: as long as the biological mechanism of an asset is solid enough and has early human data support, once the buyer judges that it may lead to multiple development directions, even if it has not yet entered critical clinical trials, it is enough to trigger the acquisition.

However, LucidQuest also suggests that compared to winning a drug that is close to market but can only cover a single indication, this strategy has greater upside potential but more concentrated risks - the success or failure of the entire transaction is almost entirely dependent on whether this mechanism assumption can be established.

02. The underlying logic of the self exemption track

Putting these two transactions into the global free trade market is more like a barometer.

According to the Evaluation report, no drug category has reached the astonishing level of GLP-1 in recent years, but immunology remains one of the fastest-growing fields in the overall pharmaceutical market with strong competitiveness.

Betty Pio, a partner at Kearney consulting firm, pointed out that immunotherapy is often seen as a "bombshell" potential stock because they require long-term use - autoimmune diseases are mostly chronic diseases, and once patients take medication, it can last for several years or even a lifetime.

This is in sharp contrast to tumor drugs: although the latter has a high unit price, the treatment period is relatively limited; The combination of self medication with long-term use and a continuously expanding patient population naturally leads to a higher commercial ceiling.

More importantly, the coverage of immunology is rapidly expanding, and "the interesting thing about immunology is that it covers multiple specialties," Pio said.

This field is expanding from traditional rheumatology and dermatology to new areas such as respiratory, gastroenterology, and neurology. I think there will be more in the future because we have gained a deeper understanding of other diseases and how inflammation affects them

At the same time, immunology is undergoing a precise evolution from a 'sledgehammer' to a 'surgical knife'.

More than twenty years ago, the emergence of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, such as AbbVie's super heavyweight product Xiu Meile, took immunology a big step forward. But Pio pointed out that although these drugs are effective, they often act like a "hammer" with a wide range of effects - similar to the application of chemotherapy in cancer, they can suppress inflammation, but also bring about immunosuppressive side effects.

Similar to oncology, immunology is now evolving towards precision. We are gaining a deeper understanding of different biological processes, types of inflammation, as well as the various inflammatory cascades and cytokines associated with inflammation, "Pio said. Nowadays, targeting is much stronger

Despite becoming increasingly precise, today's drugs still have broad applicability. A mechanism can solve an entire class of diseases, "Pio said. This means that a successful immunological drug is not just a product, but a "platform" that can be reused across indications.

The most typical example is Skyrizi (IL-23 antagonist) from AbbVie, which started with psoriasis and expanded all the way to ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Evaluate predicts that by 2032, Skyrizi will generate over $33 billion in annual sales from multiple indications, becoming the second best-selling drug globally.

In addition to the commercial characteristics of the self driving track itself, the rigid demand of the global market cannot be ignored.

A large number of established biopharmaceuticals are gradually approaching patent expiration, and after Xiu Meile, the patent cliff of core varieties such as ustekinumab and Dupilumab is also approaching. Multinational pharmaceutical companies are facing the real pressure of pipeline replenishment and urgently need to introduce high-quality early assets from external sources to complete pipeline iteration.

At the same time, the competition in the oncology field is intensifying, and popular directions such as PD-1 and ADC are already crowded. Self immunity and inflammatory diseases have naturally become strategic directions for MNCs to focus on.

Pio pointed out that large companies typically focus on three dimensions when searching for new immunological assets: the mechanism of action of drugs, multi indication opportunities, and the potential for best in class or pioneering, even if the target indication is a niche or rare disease.

03. BD opportunities for Chinese assets

As the global trend of self exempt transactions continues to heat up, a batch of Chinese self exempt assets are also entering the view of foreign buyers at an unprecedented speed and price.

On September 1st, Xiansheng Zaiming licensed its CD79a/CD19/CD3 bispecific antibody SIM0660 to Roche, with a down payment of $75 million and a potential total transaction amount of up to $1.53 billion. SIM0660 has the opportunity to enter B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases by targeting and clearing pathogenic B cells.

A few days earlier, on August 26th, Hisilicon authorized a preclinical self exempt asset STAT6 PROTAC (HSK60002) to Sentivera in the United States for $40 million in cash and 17.5% equity, with a potential transaction value exceeding $1.5 billion. This asset is still in the preclinical stage and has just received IND approval from China.
Behind these two transactions is a microcosm of China's self exempt assets entering the global stage as a whole.

According to statistics from Guotai Haitong Securities, among the heavyweight BD trades with a total transaction volume of over 1 billion US dollars since 2018, MNCs have continued to accelerate their layout in the self exempt track: the number of self exempt heavyweight trades has rapidly increased from 3 in 2018 to 14 in 2025, and has reached 10 in the first quarter of 2026; The proportion of total self weight free transactions has increased from 5% in 2018 to 18% in 2025, and further increased to 25% in the first quarter of 2026.

The participation of Chinese enterprises is also increasing synchronously. Before 2024, the number of Chinese enterprises in MNC self exempt heavy BD transactions will be zero; In 2024, 2025, and the first quarter of 2026, there were 4, 3, and 5 transactions respectively, with the total transaction volume accounting for 20% -30% of MNC's self exempt heavyweight transactions. As of now, the number of transactions has exceeded 10.

So, what exactly is MNC buying?

From the perspective of technological iteration paths, autoimmune diseases can be divided into two categories: T cell-mediated and B cell-mediated. The technological paths of the two types of diseases differ significantly, and the layout preferences of MNCs are also different.

In response to T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases, MNC has focused on the following technical areas in the past three years: cytokine dual/multiple blockers, long-acting and inhaled formulations, oral products, etc. The exploration of new targets mainly focuses on TL1A.

In this direction, multiple pipelines of Chinese enterprises have been deployed overseas, especially in the fields of cytokine dual/multiple inhibitors and long-acting and inhaled formulations, covering the majority of MNC's heavyweight BD and gaining recognition from MNC in this technological path.

B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases present a different picture. At present, there are no blockbuster drugs worth over billions of dollars in this field, and the demand for patients is more urgent. The desire for next-generation therapies is also stronger, and the enthusiasm for MNC layout and the number of blockbuster BD are higher than those in the T cell direction.

In this direction, the technology areas that MNC has focused on in the past three years include TCE immune reset therapy, cell gene therapy immune reset therapy, complement inhibitors, etc. Chinese enterprises are at the forefront of the TCE dual/triple antibody field internationally, and have already established strategic partnerships with MNC through multiple pipelines.

Dongwu Securities pointed out that with the continuous expansion of the global self exempt drug market and the arrival of the overseas MNC patent cliff 2.0 cycle, the innovation pipeline of Chinese enterprises is accelerating its integration into the global R&D system, and the treatment field is not limited to tumors, but continues to expand into chronic disease fields such as self exemption.

Guotai Haitong Securities also believes that Chinese companies are accelerating the layout of the next generation of self exempt drugs, and multiple products have reached strategic cooperation agreements with MNCs. The value of the platform pipeline has been substantially recognized by large pharmaceutical companies. With the continuous release of data on the next generation of self administered drugs at home and abroad, the path and trend of drug iteration will gradually become clear. Chinese companies that proactively layout the next generation of self administered drugs deserve special attention.

Reference material:
1.Lilly to acquire Merida Biosciences to advance treatments for serious autoimmune and allergic diseases
2.BioPharma Dive，3 takeover targets in immunology
3.LucidQuest Ventures，Immunology Strategic Roundup exploring Key Strategic Developments and Competitive Shifts 
What did this innovative pharmaceutical company do right when a drug supported a market value of 60 billion yuan?
5. Pharmaceutical affairs are intertwined, and Hisilicon is once again going global, with a self exemption track and a heavyweight transaction inventory in 2026
6. Guotai Haitong Securities, Self Exemption Series 1 of the Birth of Big Drugs: The Billion Dollar Self Exemption Track Welcomes Generative Change, MNCs Accelerate to Seize the Next Generation Pipeline