HONG KONG – Chinese biotech companies, long in-licensors of innovative biopharma assets for the region, have started to reverse the flow by out-licensing domestically generated candidates to global players.
A nearly $2 billion global development and commercialization deal with Abbvie Inc. and a $418 million private placement have bolstered I-Mab Biopharma Co. Ltd.’s position globally. I-Mab framed the deal as being the largest out-licensing and global partnership transaction ever executed by a China-based biotech. Abbvie and I-Mab plan to develop and commercialize the anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody lemzoparlimab for treating multiple cancers globally, with the exception of China. Lemzoparlimab, also called TJC-4, is Shanghai-based I-Mab’s discovery and its lead cancer therapy. The company will get an up-front $180 million by licensing the highly differentiated antibody to Abbvie, along with a $20 million milestone payment based on phase I results.
A nearly $2 billion global development and commercialization deal with Abbvie Inc. and a $418 million private placement have bolstered I-Mab Biopharma Co. Ltd.’s position globally. I-Mab framed the deal as being the largest out-licensing and global partnership transaction ever executed by a China-based biotech.
Investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College have demonstrated that mitochondrial DNA drives the abscopal antitumor response to radiation, which can be boosted by autophagy inhibition.
Bold up-fronts and even bigger milestones defined ambitious neurology deals Abbvie Inc. struck with Voyager Therapeutics Inc. in 2018 and 2019. With vectorized antibodies, they planned to target multiple indications tied to excess aggregations of tau and tragic synucleinopathies. Considerable progress was made, said Omar Khwaja, Voyager's chief medical officer. But despite millions of dollars invested in the programs, Abbvie has now decided to quit the venture, leaving Voyager to either go it alone or find a new partner in its work on the challenging indications.
Since more than 40% of U.S. coronavirus deaths have links to U.S. long-term care facilities, Eli Lilly and Co. is getting on the road with a clinical trial design that takes researchers directly to outbreaks.
LONDON – While the pandemic raged, Brexit was simmering on the back burner, but now as infections wane, the industry is turning its attention back to being ready for the U.K. cutting ties with the EU at the end of December.
The FDA sent a complete response letter (CRL) to Allergan plc, an Abbvie Inc. company, and Molecular Partners AG, of Zurich, Switzerland, regarding the BLA for abicipar pegol, their VEGF-A inhibitor-Darpin therapy for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
LONDON – Sosei Heptares has attracted a third pharma partner to its G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) discovery platform, signing a potential $1 billion-plus deal with Abbvie Inc. in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
