Heading into the International Liver Congress, deal-making began to heat up again in the frenzied non-alcoholic steatohepatitis space, as AstraZeneca PLC in-licensed a candidate from Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. on April 9 under the two companies' R&D collaboration. A few days prior, Eli Lilly & Co. out-licensed its three NASH candidates to Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc., a start-up Lilly's Asian venture arm funded just a year earlier.
AstraZeneca's pick up of IONIS-AZ6-2.5-L RX, to be known going forward as AZD2693, makes it the 11th big or specialty pharma company to enter the NASH clinical development race