The Google-backed health science company Calico has made a deal with large biopharma company AbbVie to jointly invest in a new R&D facility in the Bay Area which will focus on developing drugs to treat nerve degeneration and cancer in older adults.
AbbVie was formed when it split off from Abbott Labs last year; it currently employs 25,000 people around the world and markets medicines in more than 170 countries.
During the first five years, Calico will run the show with AbbVie taking over afterwards, dealing with late-stage development, clinical trials, and commercialization of the resulting drug therapies.During the first five years, Calico will run the show with AbbVie taking over afterwards, dealing with late-stage development, clinical trials, and commercialization of the resulting drug therapies.
The new facility will come with a hefty price tag of $1.5 billion. Moreover, both companies will throw in $250 million to get the project off the ground, and then decide whether or not (depending on the results) to spend $500 million more. And if the partnership yields some viable drug therapies, both companies will share the profits equally.
“Our relationship with AbbVie is a pivotal event for Calico, whose mission is to develop life-enhancing therapies for people with age-related diseases,” said Art Levinson, CEO and founder of Calico. “It will greatly accelerate our efforts to understand the science of aging, advance our clinical work, and help bring important therapies to patients everywhere.”
Founded in 2013 by Google, Calico was set up to explore “life enhancement” drug therapies for diseases of the elderly. The company is known as the embodiment of a grand vision borne at Google to extend the human lifespan.
[Via: VentureBeat]