AbbVie And FutureGen Join Forces To Pioneer FG-M701 Drug Development
AbbVie and FutureGen collaborate on FG-M701, a promising TL1A antibody for IBD, with a $1.56 billion potential milestone and royalties deal.
Breaking News
Jun 15, 2024
Mrudula Kulkarni
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.”