ABL Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company developing bispecific antibody technology for immuno-oncology and neurodegenerative diseases, entered a worldwide licensing agreement enabling GSK to develop medicines for neurodegenerative diseases by utilizing ABL Bio’s blood-brain barrier (BBB) shuttle platform, Grabody-B. 

The agreement aims to develop multiple programs for targets across therapeutic modalities including antibody, polynucleotide, or oligonucleotides, such as siRNA and ASOs, to address significant unmet medical needs of patients suffering from neurodegenerative conditions.

Under the terms of the agreement, ABL Bio will receive up to £77.1 million in upfront and near-term payments, including an immediate upfront payment of £38.5 million, research milestones, and potential program expansion. In total, ABL Bio is eligible to receive up to £2.075 billion in research, development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments across multiple potential programs. 

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) serves as a protective barrier that restricts the entry of harmful substances and agents into the brain and is considered an obstacle in the development of treatments for neurological diseases. 

ABL Bio’s Grabody-B was developed to overcome the limitations of existing drugs that have difficulty crossing the BBB by targeting the Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Receptor (IGF1R), facilitating drug penetration across the BBB and enabling delivery into the brain.

As part of the agreement, ABL Bio will transfer Grabody-B-related technology and know-how to GSK, while GSK will assume responsibility for preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization.

Christopher Austin, SVP of Research Technologies, GSK, said, “This agreement reflects our commitment to innovative platform technologies to overcome the BBB and thus open entirely new opportunities for treating these devastating diseases, an important component of our emerging pipeline.”

Sang Hoon Lee, CEO of ABL Bio said, “Additionally, this agreement will serve as a great opportunity to strengthen ABL Bio’s position in the neurodegenerative disease treatment market through the potential commercialization of Grabody-B and to expand the modality areas where Grabody-B can be utilized.”