The Life Sciences team advised I-Mab (Nasdaq: IMAB) on its broad, global collaboration with AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) for the development and commercialization of lemzoparlimab (also known as TJC4), an innovative anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody internally discovered and developed by I-Mab for the treatment of multiple cancers. In addition, the two partners have the potential to expand the collaboration to additional transformative therapies.
The collaboration established provides AbbVie with an exclusive global license, excluding greater China, to develop and commercialize lemzoparlimab. Both companies will collaborate to design and conduct further global clinical trials to evaluate lemzoparlimab in multiple cancers. I-Mab retains all rights to develop and to commercialize lemzoparlimab in mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong. The collaboration also allows for potential collaboration on future CD47-related therapeutic agents. Each party will have the opportunity subject to further licenses to explore each other's related programs in their respective territories. The companies will share manufacturing responsibilities with AbbVie being the primary manufacturer for global supply. The collaboration will accelerate I-Mab's establishment of commercial production operations in China.
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will pay I-Mab $180 million in an upfront payment to exclusively license lemzoparlimab, along with $20 million in a milestone payment based on the Phase 1 results, for a total of $200 million. In addition, I-Mab will be eligible to receive up to $1.74 billion in success-based milestone payments for lemzoparlimab, of which $840 million are based on clinical development and regulatory approval milestones, with the remainder based on commercial milestones. Upon commercialization of lemzoparlimab, AbbVie will also pay tiered royalties from low-to-mid teen percentages on global net sales outside of greater China.
I-Mab is a dynamic, global biotech company exclusively focused on discovery, development and soon commercialization of novel or highly differentiated biologics in the therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases. AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow.
The Goodwin team was led by Wenseng “Wendy” Pan, and included Matthew Ambros, with assistance from Paul Jin.
For more details, read the press release and articles in Endpoints, Fierce Biotech, and Reuters.