ABL licenses out its tech to big pharmas worth ₩350B

Licenses out its technology to big pharma one after another... Accumulated technology fee amounts to KRW 350 billion

Signs multiple drug development contracts for degenerative brain diseases, advance payment, and short-term milestones worth KRW 148.1 billion

Transferred ABL301 to Sanofi for a total of KRW 1.47 trillion, receiving a cumulative total of USD 125 million

ABL Bio has signed a licensing-out agreement worth KRW 70 billion in advance payments (upfront).

 

This is the company's 7th licensing-out agreement and its first platform deal.

 

Including this contract, the cumulative technology fee ABL Bio earned through technology exports is close to KRW 350 billion.

 

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 7th, ABL Bio signed a technology export contract with the multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on the 5th for the BBB shuttle platform ‘Grabbody-B' for the development of new treatments for degenerative brain diseases.

 

This is the first time that ABL Bio has exported a platform, not a candidate substance.

 

This contract aims to develop multi-targeted therapeutics using various modalities, including siRNA, ASOs, oligonucleotides or polynucleotides, and antibodies.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will receive exclusive rights to develop and commercialize multiple new target candidates using ABL Bio’s GrabBody-B.

 

ABL Bio will transfer its GrabBody-B-related technology and know-how to GSK, and GSK will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization.

 

With this contract, ABL Bio will receive an advance payment (upfront) of EUR 38.5 million (approximately KRW 73.9 billion) and short-term milestones of EUR 38.6 million (approximately KRW 74.1 billion) with no obligation of return.

 

ABL Bio will also receive up to EUR 2.063 billion (approximately KRW 3.9623 trillion) in development, licensing, and commercialization milestones for multiple programs.

 

The total contract value, including the amount above, is EUR 2.1401 billion (approximately KRW 4.1104 trillion).

 

In addition, ABL Bio will also be entitled to receive a royalty based on net sales.

 

This is ABL Bio's 7th licensing-out agreement.

 

Previously, in 2022, ABL Bio exported the dual antibody candidate 'ABL301' for the treatment of degenerative brain diseases to the multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

 

The contract is worth a total of USD 1.06 billion (about KRW 1.47 trillion), including an upfront payment of USD 75 million (about KRW 100 billion).

 

In 2018, ABL Bio signed a licensing-out contract with Yuhan Corp for a total of KRW 59 billion for 2 candidate substances for an immuno-oncology drug based on bispecific antibodies.

 

In the same year, it transferred the rights to 'ABL001', a candidate substance for the treatment of biliary tract cancer, to Compass Therapeutics in the United States.

 

The contract size is worth USD 410 million in the anticancer field and USD 185 million in the eye disease field.

 

ABL Bio has licensed out the ROR1-targeted ADC pipeline 'ABL202', which it jointly researched with LegoChem Biosciences in 2020, to CStone Pharmaceuticals in China.

 

The total contract value was worth KRW 363.5 million, excluding sales royalties after commercialization, and all payments, including upfront, milestone, and royalty payments, are to be shared with LigaChem Biosciences in a certain ratio.

 

In addition, ABL Bio signed licensing-out agreements with TSD Life Sciences and Handok in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

 

However, the company did not disclose the specific contract amount, such as advance payments or milestones, for these contracts.

 

The cumulative contract amounts and milestones received by ABL Bio through the licensing out agreements, including the advance payment for the GSK contract, totals at KRW 349.1 billion.

 

This is the sum of the four technology export contracts that the company has disclosed the detailed terms, including contract amounts and milestones.

 

To date, ABL Bio has received a cumulative USD 125 million in payments from Sanofi.

 

It received USD 75 million in advance payments at the time of the 2022 contract and an additional USD 20 million in milestone payments in the same year.

 

In January 2023, the company received a milestone payment of USD 25 million for the first dose administered in the Phase 1 clinical trial and received an additional USD 5 million in milestone payments for the transfer of manufacturing technology last year.

 

In addition, ABL Bio received an advance payment of KRW 1.4 billion from Yuhan Corp.

 

The advance payment received by ABL Bio from Compass Therapeutics was USD 11 million.

 

With the inflow of revenue from technology exports, ABL Bio also succeeded in turning a profit in 2022, posting KRW 900 million in operating profit on a consolidated basis.

 

However, the company returned to the red the following year due to increased research and development (R&D) expenses.

 

Last year, ABL Bio posted KRW 33.4 billion in sales and KRW 59.4 billion in operating losses on a consolidated basis.

 

Sang Hoon Lee, CEO of ABL Bio, said, “This contract reflects our strong commitment to innovatively advancing the development of treatments for degenerative brain diseases through our leadership in the BBB shuttle market and forging strategic partnerships with global big pharma companies like GSK.” Lee added, “This contract will be a great opportunity to further solidify ABL Bio's position in the degenerative brain disease treatment market through the commercialization of GrabBody-B and expand the scope of modality applicable to GrabBody-B.”