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Sanofi's Dupixent franchise generated nearly $18 billion in 2025 revenue, and the company has been building a pipeline of successor candidates to protect that franchise as competition intensifies. Lunsekimig, a bispecific that simultaneously blocks TSLP and IL-13, is one of the most important assets in that pipeline. Tuesday's Phase 2 results tell a clear story: the drug works in respiratory indications (asthma and nasal polyps) but not in eczema. That narrows lunsekimig's commercial scope but doesn't kill it. Sanofi already has lunsekimig in two Phase 3 COPD studies and a Phase 2 study in high-risk asthma. The respiratory path is intact. Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten maintained a $3 billion peak sales forecast based on respiratory positioning alone. The eczema miss matters because it means lunsekimig won't directly replace Dupixent's largest revenue stream. Sanofi will need amlitelimab (another pipeline candidate currently in Phase 3 for atopic dermatitis) to carry that load. Meanwhile, AbbVie putting Humira on TrumpRx at an 86% discount is the tariff framework doing exactly what it was designed to do: converting the threat of 100% tariffs into concrete pricing concessions. 👉 Read Full Analysis

Sanofi's Lunsekimig Hits in Asthma and Nasal Polyps, Misses in Eczema SNY

What Happened: Sanofi reported Phase 2 results across three studies of lunsekimig, a bispecific Nanobody composed of five linked antibody fragments designed to simultaneously block TSLP and IL-13, two inflammatory drivers of respiratory and skin disease. The results were mixed:

AIRCULES (Phase 2b, asthma): Met primary endpoint. Lunsekimig demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in asthma exacerbations at 48 weeks and improved lung function (pre-bronchodilator FEV1) versus placebo. Benefits were observed regardless of biomarker status, suggesting potential for broader patient populations beyond the eosinophilic phenotype that current biologics target.

DUET (Phase 2a, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps): Met primary endpoint. Lunsekimig reduced nasal polyp scores from baseline at Week 24 and met key secondary endpoints including nasal congestion/obstruction and CT-measured sinus disease burden.

VELVET (Phase 2b, atopic dermatitis): Missed primary endpoint. Lunsekimig did not achieve a significant reduction in eczema severity (EASI score). However, improvements were seen in secondary endpoints including skin clearance (EASI-75) and investigator global assessment.

Safety was generally well tolerated across all three studies with an acceptable safety profile. Detailed results are being held for upcoming medical congresses.

Executive Impact: This is a clarifying readout for Sanofi's post-Dupixent strategy. Lunsekimig is being positioned primarily as a respiratory franchise, and the asthma and CRSwNP wins support that path. Sanofi already has lunsekimig in Phase 3 for COPD (PERSEPHONE and THESEUS studies) and Phase 2 for high-risk asthma (AIRLYMPUS). Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten forecasts $3B in peak annual sales from respiratory indications alone. Sanofi's R&D chief Houman Ashrafian called the respiratory data "promising" and said it supports "the dual-targeting mechanism of lunsekimig." The eczema miss was not unexpected. Leerink Partners had previously flagged limited evidence of synergistic TSLP/IL-13 benefit in atopic dermatitis. But it does mean Sanofi is now relying more heavily on amlitelimab (anti-OX40L, Phase 3 in AD, filing targeted 2026) and itepekimab (anti-IL-33, Phase 3 in COPD/CRSwNP) to protect the broader Dupixent franchise.

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