Published : Jan. 12, 2022 - 15:08
ABL Bio's corporate logo (ABL Bio)
ABL Bio has signed a contract worth up to $1.06 billion (1.27 trillion won) with French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi to co-develop ABL301, an antibody treatment candidate for degenerative brain diseases including Parkinson’s disease, the Korean biotech company said Wednesday.
ABL Bio will receive $75 million in down payments, according to the deal. The Korean biotech company will also be able to rake in up to $985 million depending on the success of clinical trials, regulatory approval and commercialization.
If the treatment becomes commercialized, ABL Bio will receive royalties based on net sales of the product, the local company said.
Under the agreement, Sanofi will obtain the exclusive right for development and commercialization of ABL301. The Korean biotech company said it will lead the rest of the pre-clinical steps and phase one clinical trials while the French-based pharmaceutical firm will be in charge of the next clinical trials and commercialization.
“This contract proved the infinite possibility of ABL Bio‘s dual antibody technology,” said Lee Sang-hoon, CEO and founder of ABL Bio.
“In particular, we will use this deal as our foothold and continue to develop GrabBody-B so that it can be applied more diversely to degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and contribute to better life of patients”
The Korean biotech company’s Grabody-B technology is a shuttle platform that can maximize the penetration rate of treatment substances into blood brain barrier so it can cure the disease in the central nervous system. Using Grabody-B technology, ABL301 effectively carries the antibody that curbs the accumulation of alpha-synuclein, the cause of Parkinson‘s disease, into the brain to maximize therapeutic effects.
Meanwhile, the price of ABL Bio shares jumped nearly 30 percent after the reports of the agreement came out in the morning.
By Kan Hyeong-woo (
hwkan@heraldcorp.com)