AbbVie Agrees to Acquire Nimble Therapeutics

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AbbVie will acquire Nimble Therapeutics, according to a newly announced agreement. As a result, Nimble’s peptide synthesis, screening, and optimization platform will be added the AbbVie’s portfolio, improving the company’s ability to discover and optimize oral peptide therapeutics. Alongside that, AbbVie will also add Nimble’s investigational oral peptide IL23R inhibitor, which is in preclinical development, to its pipeline. This drug is being developed as a treatment for psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease.

According to the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will make a cash payment of $200 million to acquire Nimble. The two companies have not announced when the deal is expected to close.

In a press release, AbbVie’s senior vice president and global head of discovery research Jonathon Sedgwick, PhD, 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 chief executive officer Jigar Patel, PhD, added, “Nimble Therapeutics is committed to transforming the discovery of oral peptide-based medicines. 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 recognized the tremendous potential of our proprietary platform and emerging immunology pipeline."

Earlier this month, AbbVie announced that it had completed another acquisition, this time for Aliada Therapeutics.² The two companies first announced their agreement back late October of this year, at which point AbbVie stated that it would acquire all of Aliada’s outstanding equity for $1.4 billion in cash.³

In a press release issued at the time of the deal’s completion, AbbVie vice president of neuroscience development Dawn Carlson, MD, MPH, said, “Alzheimer's disease poses a significant public health challenge, impacting millions worldwide and is becoming more prevalent as populations age. With the acquisition now complete, we look forward to advancing potentially disease-modifying therapies such as ALIA-1758 for Alzheimer's disease and bolstering our neuroscience discovery and development efforts by leveraging Aliada's novel CNS drug delivery platform."

This deal brings ALIA-1758 under AbbVie’s pipeline. The drug, an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta antibody, is being developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and is in Phase I clinical trials.

Sources

1. AbbVie to Acquire Nimble Therapeutics, Further Strengthening Immunology Pipeline. AbbVie. December 13, 2024. https://news.abbvie.com/2024-12-13-AbbVie-to-Acquire-Nimble-Therapeutics,-Further-Strengthening-Immunology-Pipeline
2. AbbVie Completes Acquisition of Aliada Therapeutics. AbbVie. December 11, 2024. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://news.abbvie.com/2024-12-11-AbbVie-Completes-Acquisition-of-Aliada-Therapeutics
3. AbbVie to Acquire Aliada Therapeutics, Strengthening Focus in Alzheimer's Disease and Neuroscience Pipeline. AbbVie. October 28, 2024. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://news.abbvie.com/2024-10-28-AbbVie-to-Acquire-Aliada-Therapeutics,-Strengthening-Focus-in-Alzheimers-Disease-and-Neuroscience-Pipeline