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Allergan acquires rights to Assembly's microbiome development programs in IBD, IBS
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Allergan has entered a research, development, collaboration and license agreement for global rights to Assembly Bioscience’s GI microbiome development programs, which includes two preclinical compounds for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and two future compounds for irritable bowel syndrome.
Allergan will pay $50 million up front for exclusive global development and commercialization rights to these compounds, and Assembly could receive development and commercial milestone payments as well as tiered royalties, according to a press release. The companies will share development costs through proof-of-concept studies, and Allergan will incur subsequent development costs. The transaction should close in the first quarter of 2017.
“The microbiome ... is rapidly gaining prominence in numerous fields of research relevant to Allergan’s key areas of focus, including GI disorders,” David Nicholson, chief research and development officer at Allergan, said in a press release. “Assembly is well positioned to identify and select unique therapeutic candidates and deliver them to the optimal site in the GI tract through a novel oral delivery system.”
Assembly’s patent-pending delivery system, called Gemicel, enables targeted oral delivery of live biologic and conventional agents to the lower GI tract. The company’s microbiome program also includes an integrated platform with a robust strain identification and selection process, strain isolation and growth methods, according to the press release.
Martin J. Blaser
“Inflammatory diseases of the GI tract, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are debilitating conditions that remain poorly treated for many patients,” Martin J. Blaser, MD, director of the New York University Human Microbiome Program, said in the press release. “Therapies leveraging the microbiome may be able to address these disorders in fundamentally new ways. I am encouraged that microbiome innovators such as Assembly and Allergan are working to convert their promising new approaches into clinically useful products to help these patients.”
Disclosures: Nicholson is employed by Allergan. Healio Gastroenterology was unable to confirm Blaser’s relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.