AbbVie’s deal team is having a busy week. Days after inking a $1.4 billion buyout, the drugmaker has put up the same again in biobucks to secure options on multispecific T-cell engagers from EvolveImmune.
EvolveImmune’s platform builds CD2 costimulation into T-cell engagers. As well as binding to the tumor antigen and T-cell receptor complex, like a standard bispecific, EvolveImmune’s molecules engage CD2 on T cells. The biotech has found costimulation enhances T-cell fitness and overcomes resistance to therapy in immunologically “cold” solid tumor models.
The findings suggest EvolveImmune may be able to improve outcomes in “cold” cancers that stop T cells from attacking the tumor. Immunotherapies typically have little impact on such tumors, making the hunt for ways to overcome resistance one of the defining drivers of the current era of cancer R&D. The biotech has also pitched its platform as having answers to problems posed by blood cancers.
AbbVie has opened its bet on EvolveImmune’s ability to crack the puzzles with $65 million upfront. The deal features up to $1.4 billion in aggregate option fees and milestones, plus tiered royalties on net sales. In return, AbbVie has entered into a collaboration that allows it to license multispecific biologics for multiple targets in solid and hematologic malignancies.
The deal moves AbbVie deeper into a modality of interest. Richard Gonzalez listed T-cell engagers as a modality in which AbbVie had a high level of interest before he stepped down as CEO of the company. Responding to an analyst question about AbbVie’s M&A focus one year ago, Gonzalez discussed how the BCMA bispecific antibody T-cell engager ABBV-383 was driving the company’s interest in the modality.
“As we look at that asset continue to develop, we are very convinced it has a best-in-class profile,” Gonzalez said. “It shows us that, for the right indication, T-cell engagers can be extremely effective, and they're much easier to use and can be much more broadly brought to patients than CAR-Ts, at least the current version of CAR-T. So, I'd say that's an area that we have a high level of interest.”
For EvolveImmune, the deal provides external validation of the promise of its platform and a cash boost. The biotech closed a $37 million financing late last year. Existing investors including Pfizer Ventures and Takeda Ventures were joined in the round by new strategic investor Bristol Myers Squibb.