• Harpoon grants AbbVie option to license world­wide rights to HPN217 (BCMA), a TriTAC for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma planned for IND filing this year
• Expanded TriTAC discovery col­lab­o­ration in­cludes up to six addi­tional targets selected by AbbVie
• Two agree­ments provide for a total of $50 million in up­front and up to $50 million in a contingent mile­stone pay­ment for first patient treated with HPN217 in a clin­i­cal trial

South San Francisco, CA and North Chicago, IL (Press Release) – Harpoon Thera­peutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HARP), a clin­i­cal-stage immuno­therapy com­pany devel­op­ing a novel class of T cell engagers, and AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV), a global bio­pharma­ceu­tical com­pany, today announced an ex­clu­sive world­wide option and license trans­action for HPN217, Harpoon’s B cell maturation an­ti­gen (BCMA)-targeting Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC®), and an ex­pan­sion of their existing discovery col­lab­o­ration for up to six addi­tional targets. These agree­ments build upon the discovery col­lab­o­ration estab­lish­ed by the two com­pa­nies in Octo­ber 2017 and are ex­pec­ted to ad­vance and broaden the use of Harpoon’s pro­pri­e­tary TriTAC plat­form. The TriTAC plat­form produces novel T cell engagers targeting both solid tumors and hema­to­logic malig­nan­cies.

“Harpoon has built a unique and pro­pri­e­tary biologics plat­form that uti­lizes the cancer patient’s own immune sys­tem to attack cancer. HPN217, targeting BCMA, is poised to ad­vance to clin­i­cal devel­op­ment for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma,” stated Gerald McMahon, Ph.D., Pres­i­dent and Chief Executive Officer of Harpoon. “We believe AbbVie is the ideal partner for Harpoon to sup­port the ad­vancement of our BCMA pro­gram given the commercial focus of AbbVie in the treat­ment of this cancer. In addi­tion, we look for­ward to ex­panding our discovery col­lab­o­ration to in­clude up to six addi­tional molecular targets.”

“Harpoon’s BCMA TriTAC holds promise for myeloma patients, and their novel drug devel­op­ment engine, com­bined with AbbVie’s devel­op­ment ex­per­tise, has the poten­tial to generate inno­va­tive new med­i­cines for patients with cancer,” said Mohit Trikha, Ph.D., Vice Pres­i­dent, Head, Oncology Early Development and AbbVie Bay Area Site Head. “Our col­lab­o­ration with Harpoon has been prod­uctive and we look for­ward to further strengthening this col­lab­o­ration.”

Relating to the HPN217 license agree­ment, Natalie Sacks, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Harpoon Thera­peutics notes, “As our pipe­line of initial TriTAC clin­i­cal can­di­dates ad­vance in prostate and ovarian cancers, we are thrilled to partner with AbbVie in pursuit of ther­a­pies geared to­wards hema­to­logic cancers. With our efforts and ex­per­tise com­bined, we look for­ward to the initiation of our planned Phase 1/2 clin­i­cal trial with HPN217 in patients with multiple myeloma.”

Under the terms of the license and option agree­ment, Harpoon granted to AbbVie an option to license world­wide ex­clu­sive rights to HPN217. Harpoon will be responsible for devel­op­ment of HPN217 through Phase 1/2 clin­i­cal trials. Upon exercise of the option, AbbVie will conduct all future clin­i­cal devel­op­ment, manu­fac­tur­ing and com­mer­cial­iza­tion activities. AbbVie may exercise its option to license HPN217 after completion of the Phase 1/2 clin­i­cal trial. The license and option agree­ment rep­re­sents a poten­tial trans­action value of up to $510 million in up­front, option and mile­stone pay­ments, plus royalties on global commercial sales.

Under the terms of the ex­panded discovery col­lab­o­ration agree­ment, AbbVie will re­ceive world­wide ex­clu­sive rights to de­vel­op and com­mer­cial­ize two new TriTAC molecules engi­neered for two selected targets. AbbVie has the option to select up to four addi­tional targets for a total of up to six new targets. For each selected target under the Amended Discovery agree­ment, Harpoon is eli­gible to re­ceive up to $310 million in up­front and poten­tial devel­op­ment, regu­la­tory and commercial mile­stone pay­ments, plus royalties on global commercial sales. Consistent with the existing discovery col­lab­o­ration agree­ment, Harpoon and AbbVie will conduct cer­tain initial re­search and discovery activities for each designated target, after which AbbVie will be solely responsible for further devel­op­ment and com­mer­cial­iza­tion efforts.

About Harpoon Thera­peutics

Harpoon Thera­peutics is a clin­i­cal-stage immuno­therapy com­pany devel­op­ing a novel class of T cell engagers that harness the power of the body’s immune sys­tem to treat patients suffer­ing from cancer and other dis­eases. T cell engagers are engi­neered proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells that express specific proteins, or an­ti­gens, carried by the target cells. Using its pro­pri­e­tary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC®) plat­form, Harpoon is devel­op­ing a pipe­line of novel TriTACs initially focused on the treat­ment of solid tumors and hema­to­logic malig­nan­cies. Harpoon’s first prod­uct, HPN424, targets PSMA and is in a Phase 1 trial for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Harpoon’s second prod­uct, HPN536, targets mesothelin and is in a Phase 1/2a trial for cancers expressing mesothelin, initially focused on ovarian and pancreatic cancers. For addi­tional in­for­ma­tion about Harpoon Thera­peutics, please visit www.harpoontx.com.

About AbbVie

AbbVie Inc. 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.

Forward-Looking Statements

Harpoon Thera­peutics:

This press release con­tains for­ward-looking state­ments within the meaning of the Private Se­cu­ri­ties Lit­i­ga­tion Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “target,” “estimate,” “intend” and similar ex­pres­sions (as well as other words or ex­pres­sions referencing future events, con­di­tions or cir­cum­stances) are in­tended to identify for­ward-looking state­ments. These for­ward-looking state­ments are based on Harpoon Thera­peutics’ ex­pec­ta­tions and assump­tions as of the date of this press release. Each of these for­ward-looking state­ments in­volve­s risks and un­cer­tainties that could cause Harpoon Thera­peutics’ clin­i­cal devel­op­ment pro­grams, future results or per­for­mance to differ sig­nif­i­cantly from those ex­pressed or implied by the for­ward-looking state­ments. Forward-looking state­ments con­tained in this press release in­clude, but are not limited to, state­ments about the timing of IND sub­missions, the progress, timing, scope and antic­i­pated results of clin­i­cal trials, the timing of the pre­sen­ta­tion of data, the association of data with poten­tial treat­ment out­comes, the devel­op­ment and ad­vancement of prod­uct can­di­dates, and the timing of devel­op­ment mile­stones for prod­uct can­di­dates. Many factors may cause dif­fer­ences be­tween current ex­pec­ta­tions and actual results, in­clud­ing unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during clin­i­cal studies, clin­i­cal trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than ex­pec­ted, changes in ex­pec­ted or existing com­pe­ti­tion, changes in the regu­la­tory en­viron­ment, the un­cer­tainties and timing of the regu­la­tory approval process, and unexpected lit­i­ga­tion or other disputes. Other factors that may cause Harpoon Thera­peutics’ actual results to differ from those ex­pressed or implied in the for­ward-looking state­ments in this press release are discussed in Harpoon Thera­peutics’ filings with the U.S. Se­cu­ri­ties and Exchange Com­mis­sion, in­clud­ing the “Risk Factors” sections con­tained therein. Except as required by law, Harpoon Thera­peutics assumes no obli­ga­tion to update any for­ward-looking state­ments con­tained herein to reflect any change in ex­pec­ta­tions, even as new in­for­ma­tion be­comes avail­able.

AbbVie:

Some state­ments in this news release are, or may be con­sidered, for­ward-looking state­ments for pur­poses of the Private Se­cu­ri­ties Lit­i­ga­tion Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "antic­i­pate," "project" and similar ex­pres­sions, among others, generally identify for­ward-looking state­ments. AbbVie cautions that these for­ward-looking state­ments are subject to risks and un­cer­tainties that may cause actual results to differ ma­teri­ally from those in­di­cated in the for­ward-looking state­ments. Such risks and un­cer­tainties in­clude, but are not limited to, com­pe­ti­tion from other prod­ucts, chal­lenges to intellectual property, dif­fi­culties in­her­ent in the re­search and devel­op­ment process, adverse lit­i­ga­tion or gov­ern­ment action, and changes to laws and reg­u­la­tions appli­cable to our industry. Additional in­for­ma­tion about the economic, competitive, gov­ern­mental, tech­no­log­i­cal and other factors that may affect AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," of AbbVie's 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Se­cu­ri­ties and Exchange Com­mis­sion. AbbVie under­takes no obli­ga­tion to release publicly any revisions to for­ward-looking state­ments as a result of sub­se­quent events or devel­op­ments, except as required by law.

Source: Harpoon Thera­peutics and Abbvie.