Boehringer Ingelheim and Cue Biopharma have announced a partnership worth $357m to develop and commercialise Cue’s pre-clinical B cell depletion therapy for autoimmune diseases.
The multi-year collaboration and licence agreement will see the companies use Cue’s technology to further research and advance the development of the candidate molecule, CUE-501.
The partners also have the option to expand their research and potential development into various B cell targeting bi-specifics for autoimmune diseases.
Carine Boustany, US research site head and global head of immunology and respiratory diseases research at Boehringer Ingelheim, said the collaboration represents a “strategic expansion of [the company’s] pipeline portfolio in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, an area that remains challenging and where people living with these conditions often cycle through multiple treatments before finding relief”.
“By leveraging Cue Biopharma’s proprietary T-cell engager platform, our goal is to deliver a more effective treatment option to patients earlier in their disease journey,” Boustany added.
Autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, affect more than 50 million people in the US. They occur when the immune system is unable to distinguish between healthy cells and invading pathogens.
CUE-501 has the potential to reach patients with autoimmune diseases earlier and result in long-term disease control, according to the new partners.
The candidate is designed to bind to a B cell specific membrane protein and selectively engage virus-specific memory killer T cells, allowing it to deplete B cells and dampen autoimmune and inflammatory processes.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cue Biopharma will receive an upfront payment of $12m alongside research support payments, and will be eligible for approximately $345m in research, development and commercial milestone-based payments, as well as royalty payments on net sales.
Cue’s chief executive officer, Daniel Passeri, said: “This partnership with Boehringer enables further development of the candidate molecule and has the potential to further validate our Immuno-STAT platform, for what we believe to represent a breakthrough, novel approach to selectively redirect and harness potent anti-viral memory T cells against targeted, pathologic cells.”