- Partnership Combines AbbVie's extensive capabilities
with Capsida's novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) engineering
platform
- Builds upon the neurodegenerative disease partnership
announced in 2021
NORTH
CHICAGO, Ill. and THOUSAND OAKS,
Calif., Feb. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie
(NYSE: ABBV) and Capsida Biotherapeutics Inc.
("Capsida") today announced an expanded strategic
collaboration to develop genetic medicines for eye diseases with
high unmet need. AbbVie's extensive capabilities will be paired
with Capsida's novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) engineering
platform and manufacturing capability to identify and advance three
programs. The collaboration builds upon the neurodegenerative
disease partnership announced in 2021.
"This expanded collaboration with Capsida has the potential to
develop transformative therapies for patients with serious eye
diseases," said Jonathon Sedgwick,
Ph.D., vice president and global head of discovery research,
AbbVie. "In pursuing the promise of genetic medicine-based
therapeutics, AbbVie continues to expand our capabilities, and we
are pleased to have Capsida as a partner."
"AbbVie has been an excellent partner, and we are excited to
expand our collaboration into ophthalmology with the world leader
in this therapeutic area," said Peter
Anastasiou, chief executive officer of Capsida. "Combining
AbbVie's expertise in eye disease drug development and
commercialization with Capsida's fully integrated next-generation
AAV engineering platform and manufacturing capabilities offers the
potential to provide novel therapies enabling unprecedented benefit
to patients with serious eye diseases."
Under the terms of the expanded agreement, Capsida will receive
$70 million, consisting of upfront
payments and a potential equity investment. For the three programs,
Capsida may be eligible to receive up to $595 million in option fees and research and
development milestones, with potential for further commercial
milestones. Capsida is also eligible to receive mid-to-high
single-digit royalty payments on future product sales. Capsida will
lead capsid discovery efforts for all programs using its high
throughput AAV engineering platform and will be responsible for
process development and early clinical manufacturing. AbbVie will
lead innovative therapeutic cargo approaches and be responsible for
development and commercialization.
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 www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie
on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Capsida Biotherapeutics
Capsida Biotherapeutics
is a fully integrated next-generation gene therapy platform
company. Capsida's approach unlocks the potential to treat both
rare and common diseases across all ages. We create customized
therapies that selectively target specific organ systems and
simultaneously limit exposure to non-targeted organs. The company
has wholly owned programs in CNS and strategic collaborations
with AbbVie (CNS and eye care), Lilly (CNS), and CRISPR
Therapeutics (CNS), providing independent validation of Capsida's
capabilities. Capsida is backed by Versant Ventures and Westlake
Village BioPartners. Its platform originated from groundbreaking
research in the laboratory of Viviana
Gradinaru, Ph.D., a neuroscience professor at the
California Institute of Technology.
Visit us at www.capsida.com to learn more.
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.
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SOURCE AbbVie