Rigel completes vepdegestrant license from Arvinas and Pfizer, pays $70.0 million

The completion

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RIGL) reported in a Form 8-K filed June 17, 2026, under Item 2.01, that it has completed its license agreement for VEPPANU (vepdegestrant) with Arvinas, Inc., Arvinas Operations, Inc., Arvinas Estrogen Receptor, Inc. and Pfizer Inc. The licensors granted Rigel exclusive, global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize VEPPANU and related products worldwide. In connection with the completion, Rigel paid the licensors a one-time upfront payment of $70.0 million.

The agreement became effective after the early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and the satisfaction of the other closing conditions. Rigel first disclosed the agreement in an 8-K filed May 12, 2026. The report lists June 11, 2026 as the date of the earliest event reported, and Raymond J. Furey, executive vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary, signed it.

The 8-K gives the upfront payment and little else. It does not describe the drug, say which disease it targets or how far it has progressed, and it states no milestones, royalties, development costs or financing for the payment. It names no banks or advisers.

What Rigel already sells

Rigel's annual report for 2025, filed March 3, 2026, describes three FDA-approved products. TAVALISSE, the only approved oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor for adult chronic immune thrombocytopenia in patients with an insufficient response to a previous treatment, had $158.8 million of net product sales in 2025, up from $104.8 million. REZLIDHIA, for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with an IDH1 mutation, had $31.0 million, up from $23.0 million. GAVRETO, for metastatic RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer and certain thyroid cancers, had $42.1 million, against $17.1 million, after Rigel began selling it in June 2024.

Two of the three came from outside. Rigel in-licensed REZLIDHIA from Forma Therapeutics, now Novo Nordisk, under a July 2022 agreement, and acquired the U.S. rights to GAVRETO from Blueprint Medicines, now part of Sanofi, under a February 2024 asset purchase agreement. The VEPPANU license is another program brought in from other companies.

The pipeline and the finances

Rigel's own development program is R289, an oral IRAK1/4 inhibitor in an open-label Phase 1b study in relapsed, refractory or resistant lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome. The study is expected to enroll about 86 patients. In December 2024, three patients reached red blood cell transfusion independence of at least eight weeks. The company also reported that one patient first counted as a minor responder had received transfusions that were missing from the database and was reclassified as a non-responder. Rigel expects preliminary expansion data by the end of 2026. The annual report also lists a RIPK1 inhibitor program led by its partner Eli Lilly and Company.

For 2025, Rigel reported revenue of $294.3 million, up from $179.3 million in 2024. Research and development expense rose to $33.3 million from $23.4 million. It reported net income of $367.0 million, against $17.5 million, and cash provided by operations of $75.7 million, against $31.5 million. The annual report figures given here do not explain what produced the 2025 net income, and the 8-K does not say how the $70.0 million was paid or what Rigel expects to spend on development of VEPPANU.

What comes next

The license is now effective and the $70.0 million has been paid. The 8-K describes no development or regulatory steps ahead and no terms beyond the upfront payment, so the report does not show what Rigel has committed to spend or what it could owe the licensors later.

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