Infinity Pharmaceuticals has partnered with AbbVie to develop and commercialise its duvelisib (IPI-145), an oral inhibitor of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)-delta and PI3K gamma, to treat patients with cancer.
Duvelisib has shown clinical activity against different blood cancers, such as indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (iNHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
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AbbVie executive vice-president and chief scientific officer Michael Severino said: "We believe that duvelisib is a very promising investigational treatment based on clinical data showing activity in a broad range of blood cancers."
As part of the deal, Infinity will receive an upfront payment of $275m and is eligible to secure around $530m in additional payments upon the achievement of development, regulatory and commercial milestones, including $405m for the achievement of milestones through the first commercial sale of duvelisib.
Both companies will jointly commercialise duvelisib in the US, while AbbVie will take the responsibility of commercialisation outside the US.
Infinity has initiated registration-focused trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of duvelisib, including Dynamo, a Phase II study in patients with iNHL, and Duo, a Phase III study in patients with CLL.
Infinity chair, president and chief executive officer Adelene Perkins said: "This collaboration is an important step toward fulfilling Infinity’s objective of bringing better treatments to patients and further advances our goal of building a sustainable, fully integrated biotechnology company.
"AbbVie will be a wonderful partner for Infinity, bringing all of the expertise and scale of a successful, well-established company, together with the energy, drive, innovation, and nimbleness of a young organisation."
