Image: Genmab headquarters, Copenhagen. Source: Genmab
(Reuters) – Abbvie Inc said on Wednesday it is partnering with Danish biotech firm Genmab AS to jointly develop and market cancer treatments, as it looks to expand its cancer franchise.
The U.S. based pharma giant will pay Genmab $750 million upfront to jointly develop and commercialize three of Genmab’s cancer-targeting antibody products, including its potential blood cancer treatment, epcoritamab, currently in a mid-stage study.
Genmab could receive up to $3.15 billion in additional development, regulatory and sales milestone payments.
AbbVie, which makes blockbuster blood cancer drug Imbruvica, is testing treatments for more than 20 different types of cancer, and has faced some research setbacks recently.
In August, the company abandoned experimental treatment Rova-T after the drug flunked a lung cancer trial and wrote off most of the $5.8 billion it paid the drug’s developer, Stemcentrx, in 2016.
The Genmab deal tops expectations and gives the Illinois-based drugmaker access to several experimental antibodies to strengthen its cancer portfolio, as well as allows Genmab to fend off fierce competition from Roche Holding AG and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc in Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said Citi analyst Peter Verdult.
Abbvie plans to combine antibodies being developed by both companies with its antibody drug conjugates, described by researchers as “guided missiles”.
“By combining the strengths of our two organizations, we can advance the treatment landscape for patients battling cancer,” Michael Severino, AbbVie’s vice chairman, said in a statement.
AbbVie shares were up 2% to $98.10, and Genmab was trading up 3.8% to $29.97 at 10:45am ET.
Reporting By Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi.
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Source: Reuters
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