Alpine Immune Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:ALPN) has announced that it has signed an exclusive licensing an option agreement with Abbivie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) for its first in class ICOS/CD28 costimulation antagonist, ALPN-101.
Alpine Immune partners with AbbVie in developing ALPN-101
ICOS and CD28 are very important costimulatory molecules that play vital roles in multiple inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The company’s ALPN-101 is a strong inhibitor of both ICOS and CD28 pathways that have shown efficacy in several preclinical disease models, and it is superior to either pathway blockade. Similarly, it has demonstrated favorable tolerability and safety, Pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics in various human studies in healthy volunteers.
The company’s CEO and Executive Chairman, Mitchell Gold, indicated that they are delighted to partner with AbbVie for ALPN-101. He added that AbbVie is a renowned leader in developing and commercializing novel immunology therapies. Gold stated that AbbVie was the appropriate partner for the development of ALPN-101, considering its R&D commitment, therapeutic experience, and resources for optimizing the potential of APLN-101. The CEO affirmed that the agreement validated Alpine’s exclusive Directed Evolution platform, which has made several product candidates that include ALPN-101.
SVP and Chief Scientific Officer, Tom Hudson, indicated that Immunology expertise has resulted in significant treatment breakthroughs in autoimmune diseases. He added the dual action mechanism of ALPN-101 makes it a potential next-generation lupus erythematosus treatment and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Hudson added that they were delighted to partner with Alpine in the development of ALPN-101, which is a novel treatment.
Alpine Immune to present a poster on ALPN-202 during this year’s AACR summit
Recently Alpine indicated that it will present a poster for ALPN-202 at this year’s American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Virtual Meeting. The virtual summit will take place between June 22 and 24 June 2020.
The title of the presentation is “ALPN-202 combines checkpoint inhibition with conditional T cell costimulation to overcome T cell suppression by M2c macrophages and improve the durability of engineered T cell anti-tumor responses.”
