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AbbVie, Umoja Biopharma Enter CAR-T Cell Therapies Collaboration

Abbvie to pay up to $1.44B to leverage Umoja's VivoVec gene delivery platform to develop in-situ generated oncology candidates.

AbbVie and Umoja Biopharma, an early clinical-stage biotechnology company, entered two exclusive option and license agreements to develop multiple in-situ generated CAR-T cell therapy candidates in oncology using Umoja’s VivoVec platform.
 
The first agreement provides AbbVie an exclusive option to license Umoja’s CD19 directed in-situ generated CAR-T cell therapy candidates, including UB-VV111, Umoja’s lead clinical program for hematologic malignancies currently at the IND-enabling phase. Under the second agreement, AbbVie and Umoja will develop up to four additional in-situ generated CAR-T cell therapy candidates for discovery targets selected by AbbVie.
 
Under the terms of the two agreements, Umoja received upfront payments and an equity investment from AbbVie. For the two agreements, Umoja may also be eligible to receive up to $1.44 billion for option exercise fees, development and regulatory milestones, with the potential to earn additional sales-based milestones and royalties on sales.
 
“As we continue to strengthen our oncology portfolio, we believe that in-situ CAR-T cell therapy represents a paradigm shift utilizing genetic medicine concepts,” said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., vice president and global head of discovery research at AbbVie. “We look forward to working with Umoja’s team to advance next-generation in-situ CAR-T therapies, and potentially expand the patient populations and indications benefitting from conventional CAR-T approaches.”
 
Umoja’s VivoVec gene delivery platform combines third generation lentiviral vector gene delivery with a novel T-cell targeting and activation surface complex. This enables T cells in the body to manufacture their own cancer-fighting CAR-T cells in vivo. This has the potential to eliminate several challenges associated with CAR-T approaches including reliance on gathering a patient’s own or donor cells which are modified externally before being delivered back to the patient, the associated time lag and manufacturing challenges, and the need for patient’s lymphodepletion.

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