Pharma

AbbVie to buy oncology drug-maker Stemcentrx for at least $5.8B

The centerpiece of Stemcentrx's work is rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), a biomarker-specific therapy derived from cancer stem cells that is in registrational trials to treat small-cell lung cancer.

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AbbVie will buy venture-backed startup Stemcentrx  for $5.8 billion, beefing up the biopharma giant’s portfolio of cancer drugs.

The sale could be worth $4 billion more if  San Francisco-based Stemcentrx meets development milestones. Plus, as Business Insider reported, the startup has $400 million in the bank, potentially making the entire deal worth $10.2 billion.

At the highest number, it would be the second-largest acquisition of a venture-funded company ever, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

The centerpiece of Stemcentrx’s work is rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), a biomarker-specific therapy derived from cancer stem cells that is in registrational trials to treat small-cell lung cancer. “Rova-T is the first predictive biomarker-based therapy associated with drug efficacy in small-cell lung cancer, and that is a big deal for this difficult disease,” Dr. Charles Rudin, chief of thoracic oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said in a statement from AbbVie.

Abbvie said that this drug represents a “multibillion-dollar peak revenue opportunity.” The company expects Rova-T to hit the market in 2018, if all goes as planned.

“The addition of Stemcentrx and its late-stage compound Rova-T provide AbbVie with a unique platform in solid-tumor therapeutics and complement our leadership position in hematologic oncology,” AbbVie Chairman and CEO Richard A. Gonzalez said in a company press release. “We believe the acquisition of Stemcentrx will strengthen and accelerate our ability to deliver innovative therapies that will have a remarkable impact on patients’ lives.”

Stemcentrx has four additional compounds in earlier stages of clinical trials. These are being tested for efficacy against triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer. Several more are in the pre-clinical trial stage, AbbVie said.

Stemcentrx also gives AbbVie a proprietary technology platform that can screen potential drug targets against live tumor tissue.

The startup publicly launched in September after having worked in stealth mode since 2008, according to Business Insider.

Photo: Flickr user newtonapple

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