AbbVie has discontinued a development program with biotechnology company Halozyme Therapeutics after a phase 1 study did not achieve its target results.
Halozyme announced AbbVie’s discontinuation of the development program using Halozyme’s ENHANZE™ platform technology and the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) target on Monday, November 21. The company said in a statement: “Halozyme and AbbVie will continue to work collaboratively to identify additional targets for co-development under their 2015 Global Collaboration and Licensing agreement. TNF-alpha was the first nominated target of nine included as part of the agreement.”
According to Fierce Biotech, “a spokesman confirmed that the drug in question [the TNF alpha target] was indeed a new formulation of AbbVie’s multibillion-dollar brand Humira (adalimumab) which started clinical testing in January. . . . AbbVie viewed the Enhanze formulation of Humira as a way to defend the $14 billion-a-year drug from future biosimilar competition.”
The exact reason for the “deficiencies” in the trial remain uncertain, as AbbVie has only said that the phase 1 study didn’t “meet the profile they had targeted.”
The collaboration between the two companies began in June of 2015—wherein AbbVie promised Halozyme $23 million upfront and $130 million “in milestones on each of up to 9 programs” (a potential payoff amount of approximately $1.17 billion).
In addition to its collaboration with AbbVie, Halozyme also partners with Roche, Baxalta, Pfizer, Janssen, and Lilly for its ENHANZE™ drug delivery platform. According to GEN News, “ENHANZE is based on Halozyme’s recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme, which has been shown to remove traditional limitations on the volume of biologics that can be delivered subcutaneously.”
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Filed Under: Drug Discovery
