AbbVie takes option on Argenx’s cancer immunotherapy
Pharmaphorum Media Limited | August 22, 2018
Shares in biotech Argenx were soaring this morning after the company announced that AbbVie has exercised an option to license and develop its experimental cancer immunotherapy ARGX-115. The two companies struck an option and license agreement for ARGX-115 in April 2016, and AbbVie has taken an option on a worldwide exclusive license to develop and market ARGX-115 based products. Argenx could receive payments of up to $625 million if development, regulatory and commercial goals are met, as well as tiered royalties on ARGX-115-based product sales if approved. The Belgian-Dutch biotech also has the right to co-promote ARGX-115 products in the EU and Switzerland. ARGX-115, which is not yet in clinical trials, binds specifically to the glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP), which plays a key role in the regulation of production and release of active transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta).