AbbVie and Capsida Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced an expanded strategic collaboration to develop three gene therapies programs for eye diseases with a high unmet need by combining AbbVie’s resources with Capsida’s adeno-associated virus (AAV) engineering platform and manufacturing capabilities.
Give me some background on the companies.
Capsida’s AAV engineering platform generates capsids optimized to target specific tissue types and limit the transduction of tissue and cell types irrelevant to the target disease, allowing for improved efficacy and safety compared to other gene therapies.
As one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, AbbVie is focused on discovering and delivering innovative medicines that address current health issues and developing future treatments.
Is this their first collaboration?
Nope! In 2021, AbbVie and Capsida announced a multi-year strategic collaboration and option agreement that provided $90 million in upfront and equity investment capital to Capsida to develop three gene therapies programs for neurodegenerative diseases.
Talk about this current partnership.
Under the terms of the expanded agreement, Capsida will receive $70 million of upfront payments and potential equity investment.
The company is also eligible to receive up to $595 million in option fees coupled with research and development milestones.There could be the potential for further commercial milestones as well as mid-to-high single-digit royalty payments on future product sales.
What else?
Using its AAV engineering platform, Capsida will lead the capsid discovery program and be responsible for process development and early clinical manufacturing. AbbVie will lead innovative therapeutic cargo approaches, development, and commercialization of the programs.
Significance?
Capsida CEO Peter Anastasiou noted that this collaboration “offers the potential to provide novel therapies enabling unprecedented benefit to patients with serious eye diseases.”