AbbVie And FutureGen Join Forces To Pioneer FG-M701 Drug Development

AbbVie and FutureGen Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. have agreed to collaborate on the development of FG-M701, an advanced TL1A antibody for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is presently in the preclinical stage.FG-M701 is a fully human monoclonal antibody that targets TL1A, an established target in IBD treatment. It is specially designed to have superior functional properties compared to earlier TL1A antibodies, that aims to enhance effectiveness and reduce the frequency of dosing in treating IBD.

According to the agreement, AbbVie gains an exclusive worldwide licence to develop, produce, and market FG-M701. FutureGen will receive $150 million initially and soon after meeting milestones, and could potentially earn up to $1.56 billion based on milestones achieved during clinical development, regulatory processes, and commercial success. Additionally, FutureGen stands to receive tiered royalties in the low-double digits based on net sales.

 "The prevalence of IBD continues to increase, and many people living with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease do not respond to current therapies. AbbVie's mission to raise the standard of care includes the pursuit of transformative therapies that help more patients living with autoimmune diseases achieve remission. We look forward to our collaboration with FutureGen in advancing development of FG-M701 for the treatment of IBD,” said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., senior vice president and global head of discovery research, AbbVie.

 Zhaoyu Jin, Ph.D., founder and CEO, FutureGen Biopharmaceutical (Beijing) Co., Ltd. said that “We are very pleased to partner with AbbVie, a world-leader in the development and commercialization of innovative inflammation and autoimmune therapies. We believe that AbbVie is a great partner, with the ability to apply their expertise and global scale to realizing FG-M701's therapeutic potential and rapidly advancing this therapy for patients suffering from IBD. The collaboration with AbbVie also highlights FutureGen's ability to generate potential best-in-class product candidates with our proprietary Structure-based Targeted Evolution Platform (STEP) technology platform.”