AbbVie and Calico Announce Second Extension of Collaboration Focused on Aging and Age-Related Diseases
AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Calico Life Sciences today announced an extension of their leading-edge collaboration to discover, develop and bring to market new therapies for patients with age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer. This is the second extension of the collaboration originally established in 2014.
Calico is a life sciences company founded by Alphabet together with Calico CEO Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., who previously led Genentech as chairman and CEO. With more than 200 employees, Calico has established a world-class research and development facility in the San Francisco Bay Area.
As part of the collaboration, working together with AbbVie, Calico pursues discovery-stage research and development utilizing state-of-the-art technology and advanced computing capabilities. AbbVie provides scientific and clinical development support and will lend its expertise to future commercialization activities. Since 2014, the collaboration has produced more than 20 early-stage programs addressing disease states across immuno-oncology and neurodegeneration and has yielded new insights into the biology of aging. Further, AbbVie and Calico have advanced three neurodegeneration and cancer targets into the clinic, with a deep preclinical pipeline behind it. For instance, the lead immuno-oncology target, currently in Phase I studies, includes two PTPN2 inhibitors, which act at multiple steps in the cancer immunity cycle.
“Our collaboration has evolved into an innovation engine, particularly for novel targets in the oncology and immuno-oncology space, that could break new ground for challenging, age-related diseases,” said Tom Hudson, M.D., senior vice president, R&D, chief scientific officer, AbbVie.
“The extension of this collaboration enables Calico’s world-class scientists and the AbbVie Discovery team to continue to build on the transformative research we’ve done and advance more preclinical and clinical programs that have first-in-class potential,” said Gerry Fox, Ph.D., vice president, Discovery, AbbVie.
“We set out seven years ago to bring forth a unique partnership with AbbVie that we believed could yield both novel insights into the biology of aging and first-in-class targets for age-related diseases,” said Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., CEO of Calico.
“Our three clinical initiatives and more than 20 discovery and preclinical programs to date are clear evidence of how productive a partnership we’ve established.” Aarif Khakoo, M.D., head of research and development, Calico, added, “This additional extension validates our original vision and is a testament to the collective efforts of many people from both organizations who are working to deepen our understanding of specific disease pathways and develop novel therapies for patients.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the collaboration between the two companies will extend in 2022 for an additional three years. Calico will be responsible for research and early development until 2025 and will advance collaboration projects into Phase 2a through 2030. AbbVie will continue to support Calico in its early R&D efforts and, following completion of Phase 2a studies, will have the option to manage late-stage development and commercial activities. Both parties will share costs and profits equally. AbbVie and Calico will each commit to contribute an additional $500 million to 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, women’s health 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.
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 2020 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.
About Calico
Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is an Alphabet-founded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies and model systems to increase our understanding of the biology that controls human aging. Calico will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives.
To learn more about Calico, visit www.calicolabs.com.
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SOURCE AbbVie
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