North Chicago, IL and Menlo Park, CA (Press Release) – AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), Teneobio, Inc. and its affiliate TeneoOne, Inc. announced today that they have entered a global strategic trans­­action to develop and com­mer­cial­ize TNB-383B, a BCMA-targeting immuno­therapeutic for the poten­tial treat­ment of multiple myeloma.

B-cell maturation an­ti­gen (BCMA) has emerged as an attractive target for multiple myeloma thera­peutics. TNB-383B is a bispecific anti­body that simultaneously targets BCMA and CD3, utilizing Teneobio's unique anti-CD3 plat­form. Through this dual targeting mech­a­nism, TNB-383B is designed to direct the body's own immune system to target and kill BCMA expressing tumor cells. Teneobio is ex­pec­ted to begin the clin­i­cal pro­gram for TNB-383B in the first half of 2019.

Roland Buelow, CEO of Teneobio, Inc. and TeneoOne, Inc. added, "We are excited to partner with AbbVie on our first clin­i­cal can­di­date, TNB-383B, which targets BCMA using our unique T-cell re­direct­ing plat­form. Combined with AbbVie's commitment to scientific ad­vancement and bringing on­col­ogy prod­ucts to the world-wide commercial market, we will be able to quickly progress the devel­op­ment of TNB-383B for patients in need."

"Developing novel targeted treat­ments for patients with cancer con­tinues to be our key priority," said Mohit Trikha, Ph.D., vice pres­i­dent and head, on­col­ogy early devel­op­ment, AbbVie. "Multiple myeloma is one of the most common hema­to­logical cancers and an area of sig­nif­i­cant medical need. Teneobio's novel ap­proach to T-cell re­direc­tion with TNB-383B has the poten­tial to be a treat­ment option that may offer new hope for myeloma patients."

Under the terms of the agree­ment, TeneoOne will receive an upfront payment of $90 million and will con­tinue devel­op­ing TNB-383B through Phase 1. AbbVie will hold the exclusive right to acquire TeneoOne and lead sub­se­quent global devel­op­ment and com­mer­cial­iza­tion of TNB-383B. If AbbVie exercises its right to acquire TeneoOne, the former stockholders of TeneoOne will also be eli­gible for regu­la­tory and commercial sales mile­stones.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research and devel­op­ment-based bio­pharma­ceu­tical com­pany committed to devel­op­ing inno­va­tive ad­vanced ther­a­pies for some of the world's most complex and critical con­di­tions. The com­pany's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique ap­proach to inno­va­tion to markedly im­prove treat­ments across four pri­mary thera­peutic areas: immunology, on­col­ogy, virology and neuroscience. In more than 75 countries, AbbVie employees are work­ing every day to ad­vance health solu­tions for people around the world. For more in­for­ma­tion about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

About Teneobio, Inc.

Teneobio, Inc. is a bio­technology com­pany devel­op­ing a new class of biologics, Human Heavy-Chain Antibodies (UniAbs™), for the treat­ments of cancer, autoimmunity, and infectious diseases. Teneobio's discovery plat­form, TeneoSeek, com­prises genetically engi­neered animals (UniRat® and OmniFlic®), next-generation sequencing, bio­informatics and high-throughput vector assembly tech­nolo­gies. TeneoSeek rapidly identifies large numbers of unique binding molecules specific for thera­peutic targets of interest. Versatile anti­body variable domains (UniDabs™) derived from UniAbs™ can be assembled into multi-specific and multivalent thera­peutic proteins, surpassing limitations of con­ven­tional anti­body thera­peutics. Teneobio's "plug-and-play" T-cell engaging plat­form in­cludes a diverse set of anti-CD3 anti­bodies for thera­peutics with optimal efficacy and reduced toxicity. Teneobio filed its first IND on its lead pro­gram, TNB-383B (anti-BCMAxCD3) for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma in January of 2019. The com­pany has received funding from institutional in­­vestors, in­­clud­ing Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures. For more in­for­ma­tion, visit www.teneobio.com.

Source: AbbVie.