AbbVie and Anima Biotech Announce Collaboration for the Discovery and Development of mRNA Biology Modulators against Oncology and Immunology Targets

- Collaboration leverages Anima's mRNA Lightning technology platform and AbbVie's extensive expertise in Oncology and Immunology
- Anima will receive an upfront payment of $42 million with potential for further milestones and royalties

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. and BERNARDSVILLE, N.J., Jan. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), and Anima Biotech (Anima), today announced a collaboration to discover and develop mRNA biology modulators for three targets across Oncology and Immunology. Anima will use its mRNA Lightning platform to discover novel mRNA biology modulators against the collaboration targets providing AbbVie exclusive rights to license and further develop and commercialize the programs.

"This collaboration will give AbbVie access to Anima's leading technology platform and deep expertise in mRNA biology and will help further strengthen AbbVie's world class capabilities in discovering and developing drugs to make a difference in patient's lives," said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., vice president and global head of discovery research, AbbVie. "Modulating mRNA biology with small molecules is a new approach and has the potential to address 'undruggable' targets with implications across multiple therapy areas."

"Anima's differentiated approach in the field of small molecule mRNA drugs combines phenotypic screening with AI-driven elucidation of the mechanisms of action. The power of our mRNA Lightning platform is validated by our multiple partnerships and a growing internal pipeline," said Yochi Slonim, co-founder and chief executive officer, Anima. "We are excited to partner with AbbVie, a recognized global leader in Oncology and Immunology, and are looking forward to start working with their excellent scientific team in a close collaboration."

Under the terms of the agreement, Anima will receive an upfront payment of $42 million and may be eligible to receive up to $540 million in option fees and research and development milestones in the aggregate across the three targets, with potential for further commercial milestones as well as tiered royalties on net sales. AbbVie has an option to expand the collaboration with up to three additional targets under the same terms as the initial collaboration, which may increase the potential value of the collaboration. 

About AbbVie

AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, and gastroenterology, in addition to products and services across its Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at http://www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Anima Biotech

Anima Biotech is advancing mRNA Lightning, a novel platform for the discovery of small molecule mRNA drugs and their mechanisms of action. Our differentiated approach combines high scale phenotypic screening that automates millions of experiments in live mRNA biology with MOAi technology using AI to elucidate the mechanism of action of active molecules. This unparalleled level of automation of phenotypic screening of mRNA modulators together with our AI driven MOA elucidation enabled us to develop a broad pipeline across 18 different discovery programs in various therapeutic areas. With our deep expertise in mRNA biology, we were able to advance them at unprecedented speed and success rate. Anima wholly owned pipeline programs are in Fibrosis (Collagen I mRNA biology modulators, preclinical stage in lung fibrosis and applicable across many fibrotic diseases), Oncology (c-Myc mRNA biology modulators and mutation agnostic mKras mRNA biology modulators), and Neuroscience (Tau - Alzheimer's disease and Pain - Nav1.7 mRNA biology modulators).

In addition to our own pipeline, we established strategic collaborations with Pharma in partnered programs including our collaborations with Lilly, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie. Our science was further validated with seven patents, 15 peer reviewed publications and 17 scientific collaborations. To learn more about us, visit https://www.animabiotech.com and follow @AnimaBiotech on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release are, or may be considered, forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project" and similar expressions, among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, failure to realize the expected benefits from AbbVie's acquisition of Allergan plc ("Allergan"), failure to promptly and effectively integrate Allergan's businesses, competition from other products, challenges to intellectual property, difficulties inherent in the research and development process, adverse litigation or government action, changes to laws and regulations applicable to our industry and the impact of public health outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, such as COVID-19. Additional information about the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," of AbbVie's 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. AbbVie undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law.

SOURCE AbbVie