- Collaboration leverages Anima's mRNA Lightning technology
platform and AbbVie's extensive expertise in Oncology and
Immunology
- Anima will receive an upfront payment of $42 million with potential for further milestones
and royalties
NORTH
CHICAGO, Ill. and BERNARDSVILLE,
N.J., Jan. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie
(NYSE: ABBV), and Anima Biotech (Anima), today announced a
collaboration to discover and develop mRNA biology modulators for
three targets across Oncology and Immunology. Anima will use its
mRNA Lightning platform to discover novel mRNA biology modulators
against the collaboration targets providing AbbVie exclusive rights
to license and further develop and commercialize the programs.
"This collaboration will give AbbVie access to Anima's leading
technology platform and deep expertise in mRNA biology and will
help further strengthen AbbVie's world class capabilities in
discovering and developing drugs to make a difference in patient's
lives," said Jonathon Sedgwick,
Ph.D., vice president and global head of discovery research,
AbbVie. "Modulating mRNA biology with small molecules is a new
approach and has the potential to address 'undruggable' targets
with implications across multiple therapy areas."
"Anima's differentiated approach in the field of small molecule
mRNA drugs combines phenotypic screening with AI-driven elucidation
of the mechanisms of action. The power of our mRNA Lightning
platform is validated by our multiple partnerships and a growing
internal pipeline," said Yochi
Slonim, co-founder and chief executive officer, Anima. "We
are excited to partner with AbbVie, a recognized global leader in
Oncology and Immunology, and are looking forward to start
working with their excellent scientific team in a close
collaboration."
Under the terms of the agreement, Anima will receive an upfront
payment of $42 million and may be eligible to receive up
to $540 million in option fees and research and
development milestones in the aggregate across the three targets,
with potential for further commercial milestones as well as tiered
royalties on net sales. AbbVie has an option to expand the
collaboration with up to three additional targets under the same
terms as the initial collaboration, which may increase the
potential value of the collaboration.
About AbbVie
AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines
that solve serious health issues today and address the medical
challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on
people's lives across several key therapeutic areas: immunology,
oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, and gastroenterology,
in addition to products and services across its Allergan Aesthetics
portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at
http://www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Anima Biotech
Anima Biotech is advancing mRNA Lightning, a novel platform for
the discovery of small molecule mRNA drugs and their mechanisms of
action. Our differentiated approach combines high scale phenotypic
screening that automates millions of experiments in live mRNA
biology with MOAi technology using AI to elucidate the mechanism of
action of active molecules. This unparalleled level of automation
of phenotypic screening of mRNA modulators together with our AI
driven MOA elucidation enabled us to develop a broad pipeline
across 18 different discovery programs in various therapeutic
areas. With our deep expertise in mRNA biology, we were able to
advance them at unprecedented speed and success rate. Anima wholly
owned pipeline programs are in Fibrosis (Collagen I mRNA biology
modulators, preclinical stage in lung fibrosis and applicable
across many fibrotic diseases), Oncology (c-Myc mRNA biology
modulators and mutation agnostic mKras mRNA biology modulators),
and Neuroscience (Tau - Alzheimer's disease and Pain - Nav1.7 mRNA
biology modulators).
In addition to our own pipeline, we established strategic
collaborations with Pharma in partnered programs including our
collaborations with Lilly, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie. Our
science was further validated with seven patents, 15 peer reviewed
publications and 17 scientific collaborations. To learn more about
us, visit https://www.animabiotech.com and follow @AnimaBiotech on
LinkedIn and Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements in this news release are, or may be considered,
forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect,"
"anticipate," "project" and similar expressions, among others,
generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that
these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially
from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Such risks
and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, failure to
realize the expected benefits from AbbVie's acquisition of Allergan
plc ("Allergan"), failure to promptly and effectively integrate
Allergan's businesses, competition from other products, challenges
to intellectual property, difficulties inherent in the research and
development process, adverse litigation or government action,
changes to laws and regulations applicable to our industry and the
impact of public health outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, such as
COVID-19. Additional information about the economic, competitive,
governmental, technological and other factors that may affect
AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," of
AbbVie's 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its
subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. AbbVie undertakes no
obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking
statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except
as required by law.
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/abbvie-and-anima-biotech-announce-collaboration-for-the-discovery-and-development-of-mrna-biology-modulators-against-oncology-and-immunology-targets-301717165.html
SOURCE AbbVie