By Chris Wack

 

I-Mab and AbbVie Inc. said they have signed a broad, global collaboration agreement for the development and commercialization of lemzoparlimab, also known as TJC4, an anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody discovered and developed by I-Mab for the treatment of multiple cancers.

The collaboration provides AbbVie with an exclusive global license, excluding the Greater China region, to develop and commercialize lemzoparlimab, the companies said Friday. Both companies will collaborate to design and conduct further global clinical trials to evaluate lemzoparlimab in multiple cancers.

I-Mab will retain all rights to develop and commercialize lemzoparlimab in mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong, the companies said. The collaboration also allows for potential collaboration on future CD47-related therapeutic agents.

Each party will have the opportunity subject to further licenses to explore each other's related programs in their respective territories, the companies said.

The companies said they will share manufacturing responsibilities, with AbbVie being the primary manufacturer for global supply. The collaboration will accelerate I-Mab's establishment of commercial production operations in China.

AbbVie will pay I-Mab $180 million in an upfront payment to exclusively license lemzoparlimab, along with $20 million in a milestone payment based on the Phase 1 results, for a total of $200 million, they said.

In addition, I-Mab will be eligible to receive up to $1.74 billion in success-based milestone payments, of which $840 million is based on clinical development and regulatory approval milestones, with the remainder based on commercial milestones. Upon commercialization of lemzoparlimab, AbbVie will also pay tiered royalties from low to mid-teen percentages on global net sales outside the Greater China region

I-Mab also said Friday it has entered into definitive subscription agreements with a consortium of institutional investors to raise $418 million through a private placement.

The consortium is led by Hillhouse Capital Group, which is entitled to nominate one representative to I-Mab's board of directors.

I-Mab said it will receive all proceeds from the private placement and intends to use them to fund continuing and planned research and clinical programs globally, as well as the development of its commercialization capabilities in China.

I-Mab shares were up 10% to $39.25 in premarket trading.

 

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 04, 2020 07:47 ET (11:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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