Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) stock is trading higher on Tuesday as the company is entering an exclusive global licensing agreement with Arvinas Inc. (NASDAQ:ARVN) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) for its oral PROTAC drug, VEPPANU (vepdegestrant).

This news comes as the broader Healthcare sector is gaining 2.39%, making it the best-performing sector today, while major indices like the S&P 500 are experiencing a loss of 1.0%.

Rigel To Support VEPPANU Development

Rigel Pharmaceuticals has announced a licensing agreement to develop and commercialize VEPPANU, with plans to contribute up to $40 million towards development over the next four years.

PROTACs are part of a new class of heterobifunctional protein degraders designed to harness the body’s natural machinery to degrade, rather than inhibit, disease-causing proteins selectively.

In the Phase 3 VERITAC-2 trial of vepdegestrant in patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-), estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1)-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer (mBC), vepdegestrant was generally well tolerated and demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) as compared to fulvestrant.

The agreement allows Rigel to launch VEPPANU in the U.S. and pursue global rights, potentially leading to significant revenue growth.

FDA Approved VEPPANU In May 2026

In May 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vepdegestrant for ER+/HER2-, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

The approval was based on data from the VERITAC-2 clinical trial showing the drug reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 43% compared to fulvestrant.

Median PFS was 5.0 months in the vepdegestrant arm and 2.1 months in the fulvestrant arm.

Overall survival was immature, with 16% of deaths in this population at the time of the PFS analysis.

RIGL Price Action: Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares were up 10.69% at $29.00 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: Shutterstock