AbbVie Bets Practically $5B on RemeGen To Vie for Place in Sizzling Bispecific Market

AbbVie has struck a deal to license ex-China rights to RemeGen’s PD-1/VEGF bispecific for $650 million upfront and as much as $4.95 billion in milestones, becoming a member of a lot of its friends in one of many hottest areas of oncology R&D.

Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck and Pfizer paid $3.5 billion, $588 million and $1.25 billion, respectively, for rights to PD-1/L1/VEGF drug candidates up to now couple of years, with biobucks from these offers totalling greater than $20 billion. The exercise began after Akeso and Summit Therapeutics’ PD-1/VEGF bispecific beat Merck’s Keytruda in 2024, elevating hopes that the mechanism can develop into the brand new spine strategy in a number of tumor varieties.

AbbVie has entered the sphere by putting a deal for RemeGen’s clinical-phase candidate RC148. Leerink Companions analysts mentioned in a notice to buyers that the deal provides a doable blockbuster to AbbVie’s pipeline, although they famous the sphere is “crowded.” The analysts mentioned three RemeGen trials ought to generate knowledge this yr.

RemeGen took RC148 into the clinic in 2023, when it started two early-phase trials in stable tumors. The biotech began research in sufferers with breast most cancers and non-small cell lung most cancers final yr. Not one of the research has activated trial websites exterior of China.

AbbVie mentioned the medical research have proven preliminary favorable antitumor exercise when RC148 is used with an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), an space of focus for the drugmaker, which struck a deal to purchase ADC participant ImmunoGen and its authorised drug Elahere for $10.1 billion in 2023. AbbVie has continued to construct out its ADC pipeline and portfolio, together with by profitable FDA approval for Emrelis final yr.

Whereas specializing in ADCs, AbbVie has maintained an curiosity in property that may complement the modality. Roopal Thakkar, AbbVie’s chief scientific officer, mentioned on an earnings name in July that the corporate was monitoring the PD-1/L1/VEGF class. Thakkar beforehand mentioned the rationale behind this after fielding a query in regards to the mechanism at a Goldman Sachs occasion in June.

“We all the time felt with ADCs it might be necessary to have a mix within the immuno-oncology house, so we’re growing in TGF-beta and anti-CCR8. That being mentioned, if there’s different alternatives just like the one that you simply’ve introduced up that we’ve seen some knowledge readouts, that may very well be one thing that we might be desirous about,” he mentioned.

Thakkar additionally famous that including a PD-1/L1/VEGF bispecific to AbbVie’s pipeline may help “distinctive” combos with ADCs. The potential for PD-1/L1/VEGF bispecifics to make a positive tumor microenvironment for ADCs is informing the methods of a number of firms. Merck and Pfizer have struck multibillion-dollar offers for ADCs in recent times, whereas BMS’ PD-1/L1/VEGF companion BioNTech is working mixture trials.