AbbVie and Calico Life Sciences have announced a second extension of their collaboration, initially established in 2014, to focus on developing new therapies for age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer. This extension aims to leverage both companies' strengths in research, development, and commercialization to address significant unmet medical needs.
Collaboration Details
Under the extended agreement, the collaboration will continue through 2022 for an additional three years. Calico will lead research and early development efforts until 2025, advancing collaboration projects into Phase 2a trials by 2030. AbbVie will provide support for Calico's early R&D and retains the option to manage late-stage development and commercialization activities following Phase 2a studies. Both companies will share costs and profits equally, with each contributing an additional $500 million to the collaboration.
Progress to Date
Since 2014, the collaboration has yielded more than 20 early-stage programs targeting disease states across immuno-oncology and neurodegeneration. This partnership has also provided new insights into the biology of aging. Notably, three neurodegeneration and cancer targets have advanced into clinical trials. The lead immuno-oncology target includes two PTPN2 inhibitors, currently in Phase I studies, which act at multiple steps in the cancer immunity cycle.
Expert Perspectives
"Our collaboration has evolved into an innovation engine, particularly for novel targets in the oncology and immuno-oncology space, that could break new ground for challenging, age-related diseases," said Tom Hudson, M.D., senior vice president, R&D, chief scientific officer, AbbVie.
Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., CEO of Calico, added, "Our three clinical initiatives and more than 20 discovery and preclinical programs to date are clear evidence of how productive a partnership we've established."
Aarif Khakoo, M.D., head of research and development, Calico, stated, "This additional extension validates our original vision and is a testament to the collective efforts of many people from both organizations who are working to deepen our understanding of specific disease pathways and develop novel therapies for patients."
