AbbVie has announced that it will be expanding its immunology pipeline by acquiring Nimble Therapeutics for $200m.
The deal gives AbbVie access to Nimble’s lead asset, an investigational oral peptide IL23R inhibitor currently in preclinical development for psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
More than eight million people in the US are living with psoriasis, an immune-mediated inflammatory condition that causes flaky patches of skin which form scales, while as many as 70,000 new cases of IBD, a term for conditions characterised by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, are diagnosed in the US each year.
IL23R is a clinically validated therapeutic target in certain autoimmune diseases and a major contributing factor to psoriasis and IBD pathogenesis and progression, the companies outlined.
Alongside the lead asset, the acquisition includes a pipeline of other oral peptide candidates with potential across several autoimmune diseases, as well as Nimble’s peptide synthesis, screening and optimisation platform, which is used to help drive discovery and optimisation of peptide candidates for a range of targets.
Jonathon Sedgwick, senior vice president and global head of discovery research, AbbVie, said: “The addition of Nimble’s pipeline to AbbVie’s existing pipeline, combined with our… clinical and translational expertise in immunology, represents an important growth opportunity. Together, AbbVie and Nimble have the potential to help address the significant unmet medical need for people living with autoimmune diseases.”
In addition to the $200m cash payment, Nimble will receive certain interim funding payments, and its shareholders will be eligible for a potential payment, subject to the achievement of a development milestone.
Nimble’s founder and chief executive officer, Jigar Patel, said: “With AbbVie’s… expertise in developing and commercialising medicines on a global scale, Nimble’s novel oral therapies will be well-positioned to reach more people living with autoimmune diseases.”
The announcement comes less than two months after AbbVie said it would be acquiring Aliada Therapeutics and its therapies that use a novel blood-brain barrier-crossing technology to address challenging central nervous system diseases for $1.4bn.
The company also recently completed its $8.7bn acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics, giving it access to multiple clinical-stage and preclinical candidates targeting neurological and psychiatric disorders.