AbbVie exits alliance with Alphabet biotech Calico; report

Reports are emerging that a multibillion-dollar partnership between AbbVie and Alphabet-backed biotech Calico has come to an end after more than a decade.

The divorce – first report by Stat – comes just a few days after Calico issued a press release that celebrated the FDA award of orphan drug status to ABBV-CLS-628, an AbbVie-partnered programme in phase 2 testing for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) that has also been fast-tracked by the US regulator.

The alliance between AbbVie and Calico dates back to 2014, just a year after it was launched by Alphabet's Google unit, when the two companies pledged up to $1.5 billion to a joint effort to develop treatments for age-related diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and cancer.

It was expanded in 2018 and again in 2021 to a potential value of $3.5 billion, with Calico responsible for taking projects into early clinical development until 2025 and running phase 2a trials until 2030, with AbbVie having an option to take over projects once they reach later-stage development and to lead commercial activities. However, after more than 11 years and an investment of more than $1.75 billion, the partners have yet to score a regulatory approval for a new medicine.

Just last month, Calico appointed AbbVie's former head of global medicinal chemistry, Philip Kym, for the newly created role of head of drug discovery, in a further sign of how closely the two companies have been working.

According to Stat, AbbVie's change of heart – revealed in a series of internal emails – is a result of shift in strategy at the pharma group away from small-molecule drugs and towards more complex genetic medicines and will lead to around 100 employees losing their jobs. AbbVie has not commented on the status of its relationship with Calico.

If confirmed, the separation also follows disappointing results with another AbbVie-partnered programme – fosigotifator (ABBV-CLS-7262) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – earlier this year.

Data from an arm of the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial found no evidence for any impact on ALS disease progression with fosigotifator, an eIF2B activator, as well as secondary measures like ALS symptoms, respiratory function, and quality-of-life scores. Other partnered projects include ABBV-CLS-484, a PTN1/2 inhibitor in early-stage clinical testing as a potential cancer immunotherapy.

Meanwhile, a recent decision to in-license an antibody-based IL-11 inhibitor (9MW3811) for fibrotic diseases from China's Mabwell Bioscience, rather than continue to rely on its in-house discovery engine, has also been viewed in some quarters as a sign that Calico has not been firing on all cylinders.