Abbvie and Genmab Announce Antibody Collaboration Worth Over $3.1 Billion

Abbvie and Genmab announced on June 10, 2020 that they have entered into a collaboration agreement worth over $3.1billion to develop and commercialize three of Genmab's early-stage investigational bispecific antibody product candidates.

Under the terms of the agreement, Genmab will provide an upfront payment of $750 million with potential milestone payments of up to $3.1 billion, an Abbvie press release said. The companies will share commercial responsibilities for each antibody product candidate in the United States and Japan. The agreement also allows for the companies to enter into a discovery research collaboration for future differentiated antibody therapeutics for cancer.

The companies plan to develop Genmab's next-generation bispecific antibody programs, epcoritamab (DuoBody-CD3xCD20), DuoHexaBody-CD37, and DuoBody-CD3x5T4, according to the press release. Additionally, through the discovery research collaboration, the companies will combine their proprietary antibodies along with Genmab's DuoBody technology and AbbVie's payload and antibody drug conjugate technology to select and develop up to four added differentiated next-generation antibody-based product candidates

"This transformative collaboration will allow us to accelerate, broaden and maximize the development of some of our promising early-stage bispecific antibodies, including epcoritamab, with the ultimate goal of bringing these potential therapies much faster to cancer patients," said Jan van de Winkel, PhD, CEO of Genmab, in the press release. "Today's announcement marks the beginning of a new journey for Genmab that combines our world-class knowledge in antibody biology and deep expertise in truly innovative next-generation antibody technology platforms, with AbbVie's R&D prowess and their leadership position in hematological cancers."

"Epcoritamab is a strong fit for our robust hematological oncology franchise,” said Michael Severino, MD, vice-chairman and president, AbbVie, in the press release. "By combining the strengths of our two organizations, we can advance the treatment landscape for patients battling cancer."

Source: Abbvie