AbbVie and Infinity announce cancer drug collaboration

AbbVie has announced a new collaboration with Infinity Pharmaceuticals centring on the development of the investigational cancer therapy duvelisib.

The oral PI3K-delta and PI3K-gamma inhibitor has shown clinical activity across a broad range of blood cancers, including indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Infinity will receive an upfront payment of $275 million (167.1 million pounds) and is eligible to receive up to $530 million in additional payments for the achievement of development, regulatory and commercial milestones.

AbbVie will take responsibility for commercialising the product internationally, while the companies will work together to bring the drug to market in the US.

Dr Michael Severino, AbbVie's executive vice-president and chief scientific officer, said: "The addition of duvelisib will complement AbbVie's emerging oncology pipeline and expand our research into combination therapies to generate improved outcomes for cancer patients."

This comes after the firm received orphan drug designation for its investigational glioblastoma multiforme therapy ABT-414 in the US and Europe last month.