New York, June 8, 2026, 08:04 (EDT)
- Nurix traded at $17.62 before the bell at 8:00 a.m. ET, up 20.4% from where it ended Friday at $14.64.
- Roche and Nurix said they are teaming up on bexobrutideg in a deal that could reach $2.3 billion. The agreement includes $700 million up front.
- The Nasdaq was set to open for its regular session. June 8 does not appear as a 2026 market holiday for Nasdaq.
Nurix Therapeutics shares surged in premarket trading Monday after Roche said it will pay $700 million upfront for development and commercialization rights to bexobrutideg, Nurix’s experimental drug for blood cancers and immune diseases. The stock, listed on Nasdaq, traded at $17.62 at 8:00 a.m. ET, up 20.4% from Friday’s close.
Nurix is set to get a big cash payment, which is a focus for investors given the company’s market value was just under $1.5 billion at the end of last week. Roche is backing Nurix’s lead asset ahead of a late-stage trial. The stock ended Friday at $14.64 after losses earlier in the week.
Roche said it will co-develop and co-commercialize bexobrutideg with Nurix in the U.S., with profit and losses split 50-50. Development costs will be split, with Roche taking on 60% and Nurix 40%. Outside the U.S., Roche will handle sales and Nurix will get royalties in the low- to high-teens percentages.
Bexobrutideg is a BTK degrader. BTK stands for Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a protein that lets B cells grow and signal. Unlike some drugs that just block activity, a degrader helps the body clear out the protein. Roche plans to start Phase 3 trials for bexobrutideg in second-line chronic lymphocytic leukemia in summer 2026. The company says this late-stage trial is aimed at backing approval for use in the slow-moving blood and bone marrow cancer.
Roche Chief Medical Officer Levi Garraway called bexobrutideg a “major leap forward” for tough blood cancers and some other diseases. Nurix CEO Arthur T. Sands called Roche the “ideal partner,” saying the deal could help Nurix “rapidly expand” its Phase 3 program. Roche
The deal takes Nurix further into a BTK market where drugs like Eli Lilly’s Jaypirca are already in play. In April, Nurix said it will pit its once-daily bexobrutideg against pirtobrutinib in a planned confirmatory Phase 3 study for relapsed or refractory CLL after BTK inhibitor treatment.
FDA handed out traditional approval to pirtobrutinib in December 2025 for adults with relapsed or refractory CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma who had already been treated with a covalent BTK inhibitor. That puts a real yardstick in front of investors for Nurix’s program—past the lab results.
The stock moved sharply in premarket trade, with the commercial potential in focus. Roche sees the market for non-Hodgkin lymphoma and CLL hitting $41 billion by 2031. BTK inhibitors are still expected to lead in sales.
U.S. markets were still closed in New York, with premarket moves often volatile on light volume. Dow Jones, via MarketScreener, showed Nurix shares jumping 47% to $21.48, but the stock pulled back soon after.
The catch is on the clinical and regulatory side. Roche said the deal still has to clear standard closing hurdles, like the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for U.S. antitrust review. Nurix warned about risks around trial recruitment, trial goals, possible side effects, getting regulatory sign-off, covering 40% of development costs, and building out a U.S. commercial team.
Roche’s check boosts Nurix’s cash and gives the company’s top drug some outside validation. That’s the immediate market story. But traders will have to reckon with the bigger issue after the first jump: can bexobrutideg deliver enough in the clinic to compete with approved BTK drugs?
