AbbVie ($ABBV) has expanded its cystic fibrosis deal with Galapagos ($GLPG), positioning the Belgian biotech to pocket $250 million (€218 million) more than under the original agreement if it hits all of its milestones. The dialed-up deal follows a shift in focus from double to triple combinations of cystic fibrosis drugs, an evolution that has increased the early-phase workload Galapagos is shouldering.
Mechelen, Belgium-based Galapagos struck the original deal with AbbVie in 2013, at which time the plan was to develop a double combination cystic fibrosis treatment. Such a combination would pair a corrector and a potentiator, a mix designed to act on two distinct aspects of the biology of cystic fibrosis. Galapagos has delivered on the original objectives by advancing GLPG2222, a corrector, and GLPG1837, a potentiator, into the clinic. Last year it went a step further by outlining plans to move a next-generation corrector into the clinic. With Galapagos now advancing on an additional front, it has persuaded AbbVie to up its financial commitment.
Notably, the extra $250 million in potential payouts are tied to milestones in Phase I and II. As such, if Galapagos successfully hits the milestones, it won’t have to wait long for the cash to land in its bank account. “Our exposure financially over the next couple of years is substantially reduced in the CF program,” Galapagos CEO Onno van de Stolpe said in a conference call with investors. “If we meet the expected successes in the milestones then we get handsomely compensated by AbbVie.”
Galapagos, which is responsible for the Phase I and II trials, is aiming to start testing its triple combination in humans next year. Before then, the company will generate additional data on the use of the three lead drugs individually, while also running studies of backup compounds that could ultimately occupy one of the slots in the triple combination.
The suite of clinical trials is racing forward in parallel to activities at Vertex ($VRTX), which pushed a pair of its own next-generation correctors into the clinic last year. Vertex is testing a clutch of cystic fibrosis drugs with a view to creating a triple combination therapy that can cannibalize sales of its existing product Orkambi before Galapagos and AbbVie can steal the market.