AbbVie and OSE Immunotherapeutics have entered into a strategic partnership worth $713m to develop a novel monoclonal antibody to resolve chronic and severe inflammation.
Currently in the pre-clinical development stage, OSE-230 could offer a resolution of the condition and could improve the standard of care for patients living with inflammatory disease.
Chronic inflammation is an inflammation that lasts for prolonged periods of several months to years. The diseases associated with chronic inflammation include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, malignancy, autoimmune disease, chronic hepatic and renal disease.
As part of the deal, AbbVie will pay an upfront payment of $48m to OSE Immunotherapeutics, which will also be eligible to receive up to $665m in clinical development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus potential tiered royalties on global net sales of OSE-230.
In return, AbbVie will receive an exclusive global license to develop, manufacture and commercialise OSE-230.
OSE-230 is designed to active ChemR23, a G-protein-coupled receptor target that, when activated, could modulate the functions of both macrophages and neutrophils, offering a potential treatment for chronic inflammation.
The monoclonal antibody is the first candidate to be generated as part of OSE Immunotherapeutics’ pro-resolutive monoclonal antibody platform, which focuses on targeting and advancing inflammation and optimising the therapeutic potential of targeting neutrophils and macrophages in inflammation and immunology.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with AbbVie… to drive our OSE-230 programme forward,” said Nicolas Poirier, chief executive officer, OSE Immunotherapeutics.
Jonathon Sedgwick, senior vice president and global head of discovery research, AbbVie, commented: “This collaboration underscores our commitment to expanding our immunology portfolio with the ultimate goal of improving the standard of care for patients living with inflammatory diseases globally.
“By leveraging our expertise in immunology drug development, we look forward to advancing OSE-230… to treat chronic inflammation.”
In February, AbbVie entered into a multi-year collaboration worth over $64m with Tantarix Biotherapeutics to discover and develop conditionally-active, multi-specific biologics against one target in each branch of medicine within oncology and immunology.
The collaboration follows AbbVie’s announcement in January of an exclusive license agreement worth over $1.44bn with Umoja Biopharma to develop CAR-T cell therapy candidates in oncology.