Eli Lilly has signed an agreement with ABL Biotech for access to the South Korean biotech’s Grabody platform to develop bispecific antibodies that is worth up to $2.6B.
Deal terms call for ABL Bio to receive $40M upfront and up to $2.56B in milestone payments. Information on the number of programs the two companies would partner on, targets, or potential indication was not disclosed.
ABL considers Grabody to be a “blood-brain barrier shuttle platform” that can potentially “overcome the limitations of existing drugs that have difficulty crossing the BBB by targeting the Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Receptor (IGF1R), facilitating drug penetration across the BBB and enabling efficient delivery into the brain.”
ABL signed a deal with GSK (GSK) in April worth up to GBP 2.845B (~$3.47B) giving the British pharma access to the Grabody platform to develop neurodegenerative diseases therapies.
The South Korean company has eight assets in the clinical phase: ABL301 (SAR446159), ABL001 (tovecimig), ABL111 (givastomig), ABL503 (ragistomig), ABL105 (YH32367), ABL202, ABL103, and ABL501.
ABL301 is in phase 1 and is partnered with Sanofi (SNY), and ABL001 (CTX-009), in partnership with Compass Therapeutics (CMPX), is in phase 2/3 for biliary tract cancers and phase 2 for colorectal cancer.