RC-148

As far back as August 2025, AbbVie was suggesting it wanted to secure a spot in the PD1xVEGF race.\n AbbVie has made no secret of the fact that it’s taken an interest in the hotly contested PD-1xVEGF bispecific space. Now, the Big Pharma has paid $650 million to make its ambitions in this arena a reality.The company is handing the upfront cash to RemeGen for the ex-China rights to a bispecific called RC148. Shandong, China-based RemeGen will also be in line for up to $4.95 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered, double-digit royalties on net sales should AbbVie manage to get RC148 approved.RemeGen has taken RC148 into phase 2 development in China as a treatment for advanced solid tumors. Early clinical data have “shown initial favorable antitumor activity” in combination with an antibody-drug conjugate, AbbVie explained in a Jan. 12 release.The race to develop oncology bispecifics has been heating up in recent months, with Pfizer offering investors a first look last November at its strategy to dethrone Keytruda and establish its newly acquired PD-1xVEGF drug as a new cornerstone of cancer immunotherapy.Meanwhile, Summit Therapeutics/Akeso’s first-in-class PD-1xVEGF bispecific ivonescimab has already reported phase 3 data in non-small cell lung cancer—albeit from a China-only study. Back in September, BioNTech and Bristol Myers Squibb revealed the first global data for their PD-L1xVEGF bispecific in small cell lung cancer.As far back as August 2025, AbbVie was suggesting it wanted to secure a spot in this PD1xVEGF race. On an earnings call that month, the pharma’s chief scientific officer, Roopal Thakkar, M.D., said the company was “monitoring that class.”“There are several assets that are revealing data over time,” Thakkar told analysts in response to a question. “But it is something that we\'re interested in and looking at.”The CSO noted on that call last year that AbbVie was particularly interested in how a bispecific could partner with one of the pharma’s in-house ADCs, and this appears to be the case with RC148.In this morning’s release, AbbVie said RemeGen’s asset “may offer new opportunities to explore combination regimens with AbbVie\'s ADCs such as investigational telisotuzumab adizutecan (Temab-A), across multiple solid tumors with high unmet need including non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer.”“Our partnership with RemeGen reflects AbbVie\'s commitment to not only advance novel oncology treatments, but also to build strong collaborations with biopharmaceutical innovators globally as an increasingly important source of scientific and clinical progress,” Daejin Abidoye, M.D., AbbVie’s head of oncology, solid tumor and hematology, said in a statement.“By combining the immune checkpoint inhibition and anti-angiogenic activity of RC148 together with the targeted cytotoxic activity of ADCs, we have the potential to identify meaningful options for patients across a range of solid tumors,” Abidoye added. RemeGen markets telitacicept, a dual inhibitor of B lymphocyte stimulator and A proliferation-inducing ligand A, in China for systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and generalized myasthenia gravis. That drug is at the center of an ex-China licensing agreement with Massachusetts biotech Vor Bio that could be worth more than $4 billion.The company’s CEO Jianmin Fang, Ph.D., said today’s deal “underscores RemeGen\'s commitment to bringing cutting-edge therapies to patients worldwide.”“Working with AbbVie, we look forward to maximizing RC148\'s clinical and commercial potential in China and globally,” the CEO added.