AbbVie Collaborates With Umoja Biopharma To Develop Novel In-Situ CAR-T Cell Therapies

(RTTNews) - On Thursday, drug manufacturer AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) announced two exclusive options and license agreements with Umoja Biopharma, a clinical-stage biotechnology company to develop multiple in-situ CAR-T cell therapy for patients with cancer.

Under the first agreement, AbbVie has the exclusive right to Umoja's CD19-directed in-situ generated CAR-T cell therapy candidate including UB-VV111, which is at an IND-enabling phase. Under the second agreement, both companies will develop up to four additional in-situ generated CAR-T cell therapy candidates for discovery targets.

The company said that with this collaboration it plans to develop next-generation in-situ CAR-T therapies.

Following the agreement, Umoja received upfront payments and a share in AbbVie. It is also eligible to receive up to $1.44 billion as option exercise fees and milestone payments, along with additional sales-based milestone payments and royalties.

Currently, AbbVie's stock is slipping 0.46%, to $160.29 on the New York Stock Exchange.