AbbVie to buy immune drug developer Landos

2024-03-25

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Dive Brief:

Abbvie is expanding its pipeline of inflammatory disease drugs, announcing Monday a small deal to acquire biotechnology company Landos Biopharma.

Per the deal, Abbvie will buy Landos for $20.42 per share, or about $138 million. Abbvie has also agreed to pay a so-called contingent value right worth $11.14 per share, or another $75 million, if certain milestones are met. The upfront price represents a premium of about 155% to the closing price Friday of Landos stock.

Landos is currently running a mid-stage trial of its lead drug, dubbed NX-13, in ulcerative colitis. Abbvie is also interested in NX-13’s potential in Crohn’s disease.

Dive Insight:

AbbVie has struck a string of acquisitions as it works to bolster its drug pipeline in the wake of copycat competition to its top-seller Humira in the U.S.

Unlike recent multibillion dollar deals for Cerevel Therapeutics and ImmunoGen, the planned buyout of Landos is small. But it’s in keeping with recent trends favoring developers of new drugs for immune conditions.

New mechanisms of action and strong clinical trial results have attracted large pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, which paid $7.1 billion to acquire an inflammatory bowl disease drug. Sanofi and Merck & Co. have also inked major deals for IBD treatments, while Takeda spent billions on a promising psoriasis medicine. Startups pursuing immune disease research are attracting investor attention, too. Just last week, Mirador Therapeutics launched with the year’s largest private funding round.

Landos gives AbbVie an experimental IBD drug that works in a different way than those acquired or licensed by Roche, Sanofi and Merck. The company’s candidate, which showed some positive signs in early-stage testing, targets a cellular pathway known as NLRX1. A Phase 2 study, dubbed NEXUS, is currently enrolling participants in the U.S. and Europe.

Backed by Xontogeny, the biotech launched in 2017 and later raised $100 million in an initial public offering that valued shares at $16 apiece. Shares have declined since and were worth $8 each before market open Monday, when they rose to trade above $21.

AbbVie already sells two blockbuster drugs that can treat types of IBD: Rinvoq, approved for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s, and Skyrizi, which is only cleared for ulcerative colitis. Rinvoq has had safety concerns and currently carries a black box warning.

The Landos deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

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