AbbVie, a US-based pharmaceutical company, has agreed to acquire Nimble Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on oral peptide therapeutics, for $200m.
Nimble Therapeutics operates from Madison, Wisconsin, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is backed by founding investors Telegraph Hill Partners and Roche Ventures.
The acquisition will give AbbVie ownership of Nimble’s lead drug candidate, an investigational oral peptide IL23R inhibitor currently in preclinical development for the treatment of psoriasis.
In addition, AbbVie will take over a pipeline of oral peptide drug candidates targeting multiple autoimmune diseases.
The transaction will also include Nimble’s peptide synthesis, screening, and optimisation platform, which employs proprietary technology to accelerate the discovery and development of peptide-based therapeutics for a variety of biological targets.
The IL23R inhibitor, which is at the preclinical stage, is being developed as a potential oral therapy for psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
IL23R is a validated therapeutic target in several autoimmune conditions, playing a role in disease progression through its involvement in inflammatory processes and immune response regulation.
The completion of the acquisition is contingent on the fulfilment of customary closing conditions, including the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
As part of the agreement, Nimble’s shareholders may also receive an additional payment upon the achievement of a specified development milestone.
The transaction terms include interim funding payments and adjustments prior to the finalisation of the deal.
AbbVie senior vice president and discovery research global head Jonathon Sedgwick said: “The addition of Nimble’s pipeline to AbbVie’s existing pipeline, combined with our deep clinical and translational expertise in immunology, represents an important growth opportunity.
“Together, AbbVie and Nimble have the potential to help address the significant unmet medical need for people living with autoimmune diseases.”
Nimble Therapeutics founder and CEO Jigar Patel said: “With AbbVie’s world-class expertise in developing and commercializing medicines on a global scale, Nimble’s novel oral therapies will be well-positioned to reach more people living with autoimmune diseases.
“The talented, passionate and dedicated team at Nimble has made great progress over the past few years and we are pleased that AbbVie has recognised the tremendous potential of our proprietary platform and emerging immunology pipeline.”
