AbbVie, Google-Funded Calico Invest Additional $1 Billion in Age-Related R&D Pact
AbbVie and Calico, a research and development (R&D) company focused on aging research and therapeutics, and funded by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, have invested an additional $1 billion to update an existing collaboration for discovering and developing therapies for patients with age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer.
AbbVie and Calico formed a R&D collaboration in September 2014 with each company initially providing up to $250 million to fund the collaboration. Under the original agreement, Calico was responsible for research and early development during the first five years and continuing to advance collaboration projects through Phase IIa for a ten-year period. Under the new agreement, the collaboration between the two companies is now extended for an additional three years. Calico will be responsible for research and early development until 2022 and will advance collaboration projects through Phase IIa through 2027. AbbVie will continue to support Calico in its early R&D efforts and, following completion of Phase IIa studies, will have the option to manage late-stage development and commercial activities. Both parties will share costs and profits equally. AbbVie and Calico will each commit to contribute an additional $500 million to the collaboration.
Since 2014, the collaboration between the two companies has produced more than two dozen early-stage programs addressing disease states across oncology and neuroscience.
Calico is led by Arthur D. Levinson, PhD, the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder and former Chairman and CEO of Roche’s Genentech. Calico has established a R&D facility in the San Francisco Bay Area.
