Capsida will receive $70m, which includes upfront payments and potential equity investment, and is eligible to receive up to $595m in option fees and research and development milestones for the three programs
AbbVie building in Bay Area, California. (Credit: AbbVie)
AbbVie has expanded its existing strategic collaboration with Capsida Biotherapeutics to develop genetic medicines targeting eye diseases with high unmet needs.
The collaboration expands Capsida’s existing collaboration with AbbVie announced in 2021 for developing gene therapies targeting the neurodegenerative disease.
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will pay $70m to Capsida, which includes upfront payments and potential equity investment.
Capsida is eligible to receive up to $595m in option fees and research and development milestones for the three programmes, along with potential milestone payments.
The company is also eligible to receive mid-to-high single-digit royalty payments on future product sales.
AbbVie vice president and discovery research global head Jonathon Sedgwick said: “This expanded collaboration with Capsida has the potential to develop transformative therapies for patients with serious eye diseases.
“In pursuing the promise of genetic medicine-based therapeutics, AbbVie continues to expand our capabilities, and we are pleased to have Capsida as a partner.”
The expanded collaboration is expected to combine AbbVie’s capabilities with Capsida’s novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) engineering platform and manufacturing.
Capsida will lead capsid discovery efforts for all programmes using its high throughput AAV engineering platform.
It will also be responsible for process development and early clinical manufacturing.
AbbVie will lead therapeutic cargo approaches, and carry out the development and commercialisation.
Established in April 2019, Capsida Biotherapeutics develops customised therapies that selectively target specific organ systems and limit exposure to non-targeted organs.
The company has collaborations with AbbVie, Lilly, and CRISPR Therapeutics, and is backed by Versant Ventures and Westlake Village BioPartners.
Capsida chief executive officer Peter Anastasiou said: “AbbVie has been an excellent partner, and we are excited to expand our collaboration into ophthalmology with the world leader in this therapeutic area.
“Combining AbbVie’s expertise in eye disease drug development and commercialisation with Capsida’s fully integrated next-generation AAV engineering platform and manufacturing capabilities offers the potential to provide novel therapies enabling unprecedented benefit to patients with serious eye diseases.”