AbbVie already has blockbuster medication for ulcerative colitis, however that isn’t stopping the pharmaceutical large from making an attempt to broaden its scope on this illness. To that finish, the corporate is buying Landos Biopharma, a clinical-stage biotech whose lead asset brings a unique method to treating this prevalent inflammatory dysfunction of the intestine.
In response to 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 value 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 supply a extra handy dosing different to many inflammatory bowel dysfunction medication which are administered as injections or infusions, together with some merchandise at the moment marketed by AbbVie.
In a Section 1b take a look at enrolling sufferers with energetic ulcerative colitis, the Landos drug posted outcomes exhibiting it was protected and nicely tolerated throughout a spread of doses. Moreover, the outcomes confirmed indicators of scientific enchancment. Outcomes had been revealed final November within the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis. A placebo-controlled Section 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 yr.
“With this acquisition, we goal to advance the scientific growth 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 vice chairman, chief medical officer, international therapeutics, stated in a ready assertion.
AbbVie brings a number of totally 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 problems. Rinvoq, authorized for each Crohn’s illness and ulcerative colitis, belongs to a category of medication that block a unique set of inflammatory proteins known as Janus kinases. The antibody drug Skyrizi blocks IL-23, a signaling protein related to irritation. Skyrizi, whose authorized indications embrace the remedy of Crohn’s illness, is at the moment underneath regulatory evaluation for ulcerative colitis.
The AbbVie pipeline contains ABBV-668, a RIPK1 inhibitor at the moment in Section 2 testing in ulcerative colitis. AbbVie additionally holds an choice to a biologic drug that Calibr, a division of Scripps Analysis, is growing for inflammatory bowel illness. This program is in Section 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 business veteran. Whereas the per share value of AbbVie’s Landos acquisition is a premium to its closing inventory value final Friday in addition to its $16 per share IPO value in 2021, the biotech’s shares haven’t traded anyplace close to that value for greater than two years. Final Could, the corporate accomplished a 1-for-10 reverse inventory cut up that consolidated shares with a view to enhance the inventory value to keep up compliance with the Nasdaq’s itemizing necessities. On a split-adjusted foundation, the per-share acquisition value continues to be under Landos’s IPO value.
Nonetheless, Landos shareholders might 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 value. That extra cost is tied to the achievement of a scientific growth milestone. In a regulatory submitting, Landos stated the milestone is the beginning of Section 3 testing of NX-13 or another drug candidate addressing the NRLX1 pathway for the remedy of ulcerative colitis. This examine should begin earlier than March 31, 2029, in keeping with the settlement.
In analysis be aware despatched to buyers on Monday analysis, Leerink Companions analyst Thomas Smith wrote that Landos is a logical strategic match for AbbVie, offering the pharma large 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 belongings for inflammatory bowel illness, Smith stated Leerink believes there’s excessive chance of the acquisition closing and low threat of opposition from the Federal Commerce Fee.
Picture: Smith Assortment/Gado, through Getty Photographs