AbbVie Will get One other Ulcerative Colitis Contender by way of $137M Landos Acquisition

AbbVie already has blockbuster medication for ulcerative colitis, however that isn’t stopping the pharmaceutical big from making an attempt to develop its scope on this illness. To that finish, the corporate is buying Landos Biopharma, a clinical-stage biotech whose lead asset brings a special method to treating this prevalent inflammatory dysfunction of the intestine.

In line with deal phrases introduced Monday deal, AbbVie can pay $20.42 for every share of Blacksburg, Virginia-based Landos, which represents a 155% premium to the biotech’s closing inventory worth on Friday.

Landos’s drug, named NX-13, is a small molecule designed to focus on and activate the NOD-like receptor X1, or NLRX1. This receptor is related to the modulation of inflammatory proteins concerned in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s illness. As a once-daily oral drug, NX-13 would offer a extra handy dosing different to many inflammatory bowel dysfunction medication which can be administered as injections or infusions, together with some merchandise at present marketed by AbbVie.

In a Part 1b check enrolling sufferers with energetic ulcerative colitis, the Landos drug posted outcomes displaying it was secure and properly tolerated throughout a variety of doses. Moreover, the outcomes confirmed alerts of scientific enchancment. Outcomes have been revealed final November within the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis. A placebo-controlled Part 2 proof-of-concept scientific trial is underway testing two doses of the drug. The examine has a focused enrollment of 80 sufferers who’ve moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. Preliminary knowledge are anticipated within the fourth quarter of this 12 months.

“With this acquisition, we intention to advance the scientific improvement of NX-13, a differentiated, first-in-class, oral asset with the potential to make a distinction within the lives of individuals dwelling with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s illness,” AbbVie’s Roopal Thakkar, senior vp, chief medical officer, international therapeutics, mentioned in a ready assertion.

AbbVie brings a number of completely different approaches to the intestinal irritation, irritation, and ulcers attributable to ulcerative colitis. Humira an antibody drug designed to bind to and block tumor necrosis issue alpha, a protein related to a number of inflammatory issues. Rinvoq, accredited for each Crohn’s illness and ulcerative colitis, belongs to a category of medication that block a special set of inflammatory proteins known as Janus kinases. The antibody drug Skyrizi blocks IL-23, a signaling protein related to irritation. Skyrizi, whose accredited indications embrace the remedy of Crohn’s illness, is at present beneath regulatory evaluate for ulcerative colitis.

The AbbVie pipeline consists of ABBV-668, a RIPK1 inhibitor at present in Part 2 testing in ulcerative colitis. AbbVie additionally holds an choice to a biologic drug that Calibr, a division of Scripps Analysis, is creating for inflammatory bowel illness. This program is in Part 1 testing.

Based in 2017, Landos was one of many first startups in Xontogeny, an accelerator run by Chairman and CEO Chris Garabedian, a biotech trade veteran. Whereas the per share worth of AbbVie’s Landos acquisition is a premium to its closing inventory worth final Friday in addition to its $16 per share IPO worth in 2021, the biotech’s shares haven’t traded anyplace close to that worth for greater than two years. Final Might, the corporate accomplished a 1-for-10 reverse inventory break up that consolidated shares with a purpose to increase the inventory worth to take care of compliance with the Nasdaq’s itemizing necessities. On a split-adjusted foundation, the per-share acquisition worth continues to be under Landos’s IPO worth.

Nonetheless, Landos shareholders may obtain extra. The deal features a contingent worth proper that can pay as much as $11.14 per share, including $75 million to the acquisition worth. That extra cost is tied to the achievement of a scientific improvement milestone. In a regulatory submitting, Landos mentioned the milestone is the beginning of Part 3 testing of NX-13 or some other drug candidate addressing the NRLX1 pathway for the remedy of ulcerative colitis. This examine should begin earlier than March 31, 2029, in line with the settlement.

In analysis notice despatched to buyers on Monday analysis, Leerink Companions analyst Thomas Smith wrote that Landos is a logical strategic match for AbbVie, offering the pharma big with optionality in its inflammatory bowel dysfunction pipeline for a comparatively modest upfront money cost. Whereas acknowledging some overlap with AbbVie’s Rinvoq, Skyrizi, and Humira in addition to the clinical-stage property for inflammatory bowel illness, Smith mentioned Leerink believes there may be excessive likelihood of the acquisition closing and low threat of opposition from the Federal Commerce Fee.

Photograph: Smith Assortment/Gado, by way of Getty Photographs