One man's trash is another man's treasure… 

Roivant Sciences is officially on the come up after unveiling Phase 3 data for brepocitinib, its hand-me-down pill from Pfizer, in dermatomyositis. The result? The drug didn’t just scrape by… It gave an absolute masterclass in nailing the primary endpoint and all nine secondaries over a full year. Muscle strength, skin, function, steroid tapering… the works.

(Source: Giphy) 

This is a BFD, especially for a disease so rare it affects around 34,000 people in the U.S. But now, brepocitinib suddenly looks like the prom king. In fact, Leerink now thinks this thing can push $2 billion in annual sales by 2032. Bigly. 

(Source: BioPharma Dive) 

For more context on this, back in 2022, Pfizer started licensing brepocitinib as part of a pipeline clean-out. Roivant scooped it up, created a subsidiary called Priovant, and kept the lights on. Fast forward to the Phase 3 VALOR trial: patients on 30mg brepocitinib scored a mean Total Improvement Score of 46.5 at week 52. The placebo, on the other hand, only reported 31.2. 

However, the real win here is that nearly double the number of patients on brepocitinib were able to walk away from steroids. Translation: In dermatomyositis, steroids aren’t just a treatment… they’re a slow-motion curse. Weight gain, brittle bones, infections are all an issue. Which is why Brepocitinib offering a way out is the kind of result physicians can sell to patients without morally choking. Additionally, the safety is unremarkable… and exactly what you want when you’re asking regulators for approval. 

(Source: Giphy) 

As for the other big swingers in the industry, the dermatomyositis race isn’t empty. Argenx has efgartigimod, AstraZeneca has anifrolumab, and Pfizer has dazukibart (awkward). But all three have readouts penciled in for late 2026 or later. Meaning, Roivant’s brepocitnib is simply ahead. And if we’ve all learned anything from situations like this, it’s that in rare diseases, first-to-market often means first-to-pricing power.

With that said, the bear case is that Leerink analysts had hoped for a 20-point gap over placebo. They got 15. Which on the surface is a ball buster, but in practice doctors will see strong muscle efficacy and a path off prednisone, and that’s all that matters. You don’t need a round number when patients are moving better and swallowing fewer pills.

(Source: Giphy) 

So, what’s the angle for investors here? Good question. Dermatomyositis doesn’t sound like a blockbuster indication at 13 per 100,000, but orphan pricing makes up the difference. Oral delivery is another advantage…no infusion chairs, no subcutaneous injection training. Just a pill.

That’s why Leerink raised its sales target from $1.4B to $2B by 2032. Wall Street didn’t need the math lesson shares moved nearly 8% on the news yesterday (down -2% today). But for once, the hype cycle wasn’t running ahead of the data (thank Gawd)... instead the data actually justified the hype. Of course, only time will tell how this actually goes for Roivant, but for now, it’s a big friggin’ win. So place your bets accordingly. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Pfizer as mentioned in the article.