U.S. Drugmaker Invests in Potential of Chinese Cancer Fighting Drug

Chinese drug developer I-Mab is set to reap the benefits of its research into a drug intended to enlist the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer in the way they banish common colds.

I-Mab’s research into the role of CD47, a protein found in some healthy cells and some cancerous tumors and which ‘hides’ them from the body’s patrolling immune cells, is attracting strong foreign investment interest despite being in the early stages of development.

U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc. has already paid $200 million, and could spend billions more, on a collaboration with I-Mab, which says it has developed a novel anti-CD47 drug that avoids the pitfalls of other similar therapies: it mostly leaves healthy cells unharmed.

The deal gives AbbVie an exclusive global license to develop and sell I-Mab’s cancer-fighting drug outside of Greater China, according to a statement on Friday. The drug lemzoparlimab, also known as TJC4, is an antibody discovered by the Shanghai-based company that it intends to use to treat multiple forms of cancer.

AbbVie will pay I-Mab $180 million up front as well as $20 million based on recently released clinical data, the company said in a statement Friday. I-Mab could also receive as much as $1.74 billion in milestone payments based on development, regulatory and sales criteria. The Chinese firm will get royalties from future sales of the drug.

The partnership also gives AbbVie a right of first negotiation to license further development and sales of two other lemzoparlimab-based antibodies developed by I-Mab. The potential combined value would be at least $1 billion in upfront and milestone payments.

“The addition of I-Mab’s novel CD47 programs complements our global clinical strategy in hematology and immuno-oncology,” Thomas J. Hudson, head of research at AbbVie, said in the statement. “We have been impressed with what I-Mab has been able to accomplish in research and clinical development and we look forward to working together to make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of patients globally.”

But I-Mab’s treatment is only in the first phase of human trials, and the company has barely released any data. Experts say it’s still early days.

‘Don’t eat me’

Tumor cells use CD47 to help evade being eaten by macrophages, a key component of the human immune response that detect, engulf and destroy harmful organisms, explained Vaysel Kayser, a cancer immunology expert at the University of Sydney.

“This makes it a good target for anticancer drugs that can bind to CD47 and block its ‘don’t eat me’ signal,” he said.

The idea is that removing the signal allows the sick person’s own immune response to swing into action and destroy the cancer cells. But CD47 is also present in normal red blood cells, Kayser said, meaning targeting it could damage healthy cells and harm the body.

While it is not the first firm to develop drugs that target CD47, I-Mab says lemzoparlimab can uniquely distinguish between normal red blood cells and cancer cells and bind mostly to the cancer cells, reducing such harm.

Kayser said this was a “promising approach,” but that it was still very early, and data from clinical trials was needed. AbbVie said full data from I-Mab’s early human trials will be presented later this year “at an appropriate scientific conference.”

The absence of evidence has not deterred investors. I-Mab separately announced that a consortium led by Hillhouse Capital has agreed to invest $418 million through a private placement. The deal includes an offering of 29.1 million ordinary shares to the investors at a price equivalent to $33 for each of I-Mab’s American depositary shares, according to another statement. The placement will also see the issue of warrants worth an additional $104.5 million if fully exercised. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. participated in the offering as well.

Shares of I-Mab, which raised $114 million in a U.S. IPO in January, jumped as much as 17.9% to a record $42.16 each in New York trading on Friday, before settling at $36.70 ahead of the Labor Day long weekend. Shares in AbbVie rose as much as 1.4% on Friday.

Earlier this year, Gilead Sciences Inc. completed the acquisition of immuno-oncology firm Forty Seven Inc. for about $4.9 billion. In June, AbbVie agreed to a cancer research and development pact with Danish biotechnology company Genmab A/S that may generate payments of more than $3 billion.

Bloomberg contributed to this story.

Contact reporter Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com)

Download our app to receive breaking news alerts and read the news on the go.