BioCentury
ARTICLE | Deals

July 27 Quick Takes: Three times and it’s still charming for AbbVie, Calico

Light demand for Candel IPO, plus Keytruda, AC Immune, Relmada, Regeneron-AstraZeneca

July 28, 2021 2:00 AM UTC

A 2014 deal extended a second time by Calico Life Sciences LLC and AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) sees each company committing an additional $500 million. The collaboration, which has moved three immuno-oncology and neurodegeneration programs into the clinic, has developed a pipeline more than 20 compounds deep. Calico, founded by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), is led by CEO and former Genentech Inc. head Arthur Levinson.

Co-led by by Omega Funds and TCG X, Artios Pharma Ltd.’s $153 million series C round will support the company’s DNA damage response pipeline. The round’s new investors include Avidity Partners, Invus, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Tetragon Financial Group, RTW Investments, Soleus Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, CaaS Capital Management and Schroders Capital. Participating existing investors included Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX), SV Health Investors, Andera Partners, LSP, M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, IP Group plc and Novartis Venture Fund...