Boehringer Ingelheim and Cue Biopharma have entered a strategic research partnership and licence agreement to develop and commercialise the latter’s CUE-501 product candidate for autoimmune conditions.
CUE-501 is a differentiated B cell depletion therapy.
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The agreement outlines a multi-year partnership that will utilise Cue Biopharma’s technology to advance research and develop the candidate molecule.
The partnership also allows the companies to broaden research and development (R&D) in several B cells that target bispecifics for a range of autoimmune conditions.
It signifies the broadening of the pipeline portfolio of Boehringer in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions.
Cue Biopharma will receive a $12m upfront payment from Boehringer Ingelheim, along with payments of research support.
The deal could yield Cue Biopharma up to $345m in total, including payments based on research, development and commercial milestones, beginning with two preclinical development targets.
Cue is also eligible for royalty payments on net sales of the therapy.
The company develops therapeutic biologics that selectively modulate and engage disease-specific T cells for treating inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
Its preclinical candidate molecule is designed to attach to a B cell-specific membrane protein while concurrently engaging virus-specific memory killer T cells.
This action could lead to a selective B cell depletion and reduction in the autoimmune and inflammatory process, surpassing current approaches in providing safety.
Cue Biopharma CEO Daniel Passeri stated: “We are very pleased to embark on this collaboration and licence agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim.
“This partnership with Boehringer enables further development of the candidate molecule and has the potential to further validate our Immuno-STAT platform, for what we believe to represent a breakthrough, novel approach to selectively redirect and harness potent anti-viral memory T cells against targeted, pathologic cells.”
This announcement follows the recent opening of Boehringer Ingelheim’s subsidiary NBE Therapeutics’ new antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) R&D facility in Switzerland.
