AbbVie to buy Roche spinout for $200 million

AbbVie is slated to buy oral peptide developer Nimble Therapeutics for $200 million, with the potential for a milestone payment.

Nimble was spun out from Roche in 2019. The firm’s platform was built in a division of the pharma company called Roche NimbleGen, where researchers developed massive parallel synthesis of peptides, including macrocyclic peptidomimetics that could be developed as stand-alone therapeutics. Roche scientist Jigar Patel led the Roche NimbleGen team for more than 5 years, according to his LinkedIn profile, and became Nimble’s CEO when the firm struck out on its own.

Today, Nimble is developing at least three drug candidates, none of which have been tested in humans yet. One is an oral peptide that seeks to block C5, an enzyme involved in the formation of the membrane attack complex, which causes critical autoimmune issues in generalized myasthenia gravis. The other two are designed to inhibit the cytokine receptor IL-23R and the cytokine TL1A, respectively, to treat psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

AbbVie will acquire those assets once the transaction is completed. The North Chicago–based pharma firm will also gain Nimble’s peptide synthesis, screening, and optimization platform, which it says could be used to develop peptide drugs “for a range of targets.”

“With AbbVie’s world-class expertise in developing and commercializing medicines on a global scale, Nimble’s novel oral therapies will be well-positioned to reach more people living with autoimmune diseases,” Patel says in a statement.

The acquisition is a relatively small one as far as biotech M&A goes. PitchBook recorded 56 biopharma acquisitions in the first three quarters of 2024. Industry watchers are hoping to see more—and larger—deals early next year, particularly given that many large pharma companies will soon need to replenish their drug development pipelines as patent protections for blockbuster drugs expire.

AbbVie is among those companies: its largest drug, Humira, lost exclusivity in January 2023. The company has spent more than $10 billion to acquire Alzheimer’s drugmaker Aliada Therapeutics, IBD drug developer Celsius Therapeutics, autoimmune disease firm Landos Biopharma, and neuroscience biotech Cerevel Therapeutics within the last year alone.