AbbVie and Genmab sign drug development and commercialisation deal worth up to $4bn

AbbVie has joined forces with Genmab to develop and commercialise three of the latter’s early-stage Genmab drug products – epcoritamab (DuoBody-CD3xCD20), DuoHexaBody-CD37 and DuoBody-CD3x5T4 – and partner up on the discovery of up to four future therapies for cancer, in a deal worth almost $4 billion.

Commercial responsibilities for the first of these products will be shared by both companies in the US and Japan, with AbbVie handling marketing duties in the rest of the world. For the other two products and any others developed under the agreement in future, both companies will share development and marketing rights in the US and Japan, while Genmab will be able to co-commercialise these products alongside AbbVie in the rest of the world. Genmab will also handle all Phase 1 development studies, while AbbVie reserves the right to opt in to promising development programmes.

AbbVie will make an upfront payment of $750 million, with Genmab eligible to receive a further sum of up to $3.15 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones, which incorporates $1.5 billion specifically across Genmab’s existing three products covered under the deal. An additional $2 billion is available to Genmab in the event that all four newly developed candidates are successful, as are tiered royalties of between 22% and 26% on net sales for epcoritamab outside the US and Japan.

"This transformative collaboration will allow us to accelerate, broaden and maximise the development of some of our promising early-stage bispecific antibodies, including epcoritamab, with the ultimate goal of bringing these potential therapies much faster to cancer patients," explained Dr Jan van de Winkel, Chief Executive Officer of Genmab. "Today's announcement marks the beginning of a new journey for Genmab that combines our world-class knowledge in antibody biology and deep expertise in truly innovative next-generation antibody technology platforms, with AbbVie's R&D prowess and their leadership position in haematological cancers."

Matt Fellows