Dive Brief:
- Duveselib is Infinity’s only clinical-stage asset and has demonstrated positive results in early clinical trials. It is being developed for treatment of a range of blood cancers, including indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (iNHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
- AbbVie’s blood cancer drug, ABT-199, has had safety concerns, which has stymied their efforts to expand their cancer portfolio. Duveselib offers a good opportunity.
- Infinity will receive an upfront payment of $275 million and is eligible for additional milestone payments. AbbVie and Infinity will jointly commercialize duvelenib and split the profits.
Dive Insight:
AbbVie is intent on shoring up its oncology portfolio. Currently, duvelesib is being studied in two clinical trials, including a phase II trial for iNHL, a phase III trial for CLL. A phase I trial testing the combination of duvelesib with rituximab for the treatment of follicular lymphoma will start later this year.
In addition to this collaboration, AbbVie is involved in a $1.5 billion partnership with Google’s Calico to develop new treatments for age-related cancers. As they forge ahead with their oncology development efforts, AbbVie is in good company as other firms also aggressively pursue treatment for blood cancer, including Roche (developing obinutuzumab), Janssen (ibrutinib) and Gilead (idelalisib).