Nxera Pharma earns $10m milestone from AbbVie neurological deal
The companies agreed a multi-target collaboration in 2022 to leverage Nxera’s NxWave™ platform to discover novel medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) associated with neurological disease.
This current milestone relates to the identification of validated and differentiated ‘hit’ molecules against a neurology target.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nxera is eligible to receive up to $40 million in near-term research milestones as well as further potential option, development and commercial milestones totalling up to $1.2 billion, plus tiered royalties on global sales. This is the second milestone received in this collaboration: the first milestone was achieved in June 2024.
Dr. Matt Barnes, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Nxera Pharma UK, said: “Reaching this second milestone highlights the continued productivity of our collaboration with AbbVie, and reflects the remarkable work of our teams in applying our NxWave™ platform to discover and advance novel molecules that modulate neurological disease targets. We are very proud of the progress achieved so far and look forward to continuing our work towards impactful new therapies for patients.”
Nxera says the milestone payment will be recognised in the third quarter of 2025. The company has built what it describes as an agile, new-generation commercial business in Japan to develop and commercialise innovative medicines, including several launched products, to address a high value, large and growing market and those in the broader APAC region.
Behind that, and powered by its NxWave™ discovery platform, the company is advancing an extensive pipeline of over 30 active programs from discovery through to late clinical stage internally and in partnership with leading pharma and biotech companies.
This pipeline of potentially first- and best-in-class candidates is focused on addressing major unmet needs in some of the fastest-growing areas of medicine across obesity and metabolic disorders, neurology/neuropsychiatry and immunology and inflammation.
Nxera employs around 400 people at key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Granta Park in Cambridge UK, Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea) and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.