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BLACKSBURG, Va.--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- NImmune Biopharma ("NImmune”), a late-clinical-stage precision immunology biopharmaceutical company that develops novel best-in-class biomarker-driven immunoregulatory therapeutics, today announced a research collaboration with BioTherapeutics, Inc. (“BioTherapeutics”), a clinical-stage biotech company that combines advanced computational modeling with translational and clinical experimentation to accelerate the development of novel products. The collaboration strengthens NImmune’s precision immunology capabilities by providing access to BioTherapeutics’ preclinical services and regulatory capabilities for product testing, mechanism of action validation studies, and development of animal and computational models of inflammatory and autoimmune disease. NImmune will also gain access to BioTherapeutics’ proprietary animal models of disease, including its unique pig models of IBD, PK/PD analysis capabilities and expert regulatory infrastructure. Dr. Raquel Hontecillas, BioTherapeutics Chief Scientific Officer, stated, “ We are excited to collaborate across teams in support of the development of much-needed therapeutics by providing our highly sophisticated computational and preclinical services, including our proprietary efficacy animal models of autoimmune and inflammatory disease. The unique drug development ecosystem created here in Blacksburg enables and equips our organizations to develop safer and more effective therapeutics at an increasingly efficient and accelerated pace.” NImmune’s partnership with BioTherapeutics complements an existing R&D partnership with NIMML Institute , creating a unique scientific innovation ecosystem for transdisciplinary teams to collaborate from discovery through various development phases. This ecosystem demonstrated significant clinical and commercial success this year with BioTherapeutics and NIMML Institute having enabled the development of NX-13 and its acquisition by AbbVie, Inc. (NYSE: ABBV). " The collaboration with BioTherapeutics is a crucial extension of NImmune's innovative R&D ecosystem that is enabling our team to create safer and more effective immunoregulatory therapeutics that address the unmet clinical needs of patients with inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” said Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Founder & CEO of NImmune. “ Through NImmune’s strategic partnerships with both the NIMML Institute and BioTherapeutics, we have created a best-in-class scientific ecosystem capable of accelerating the pipeline—from A.I.-enabled target discovery and validation using the TITAN-X platform to preclinical animal modeling to clinical testing and ultimately commercialization. The regulatory infrastructure, preclinical resources, and leading proprietary models of disease and pathology developed and honed at BioTherapeutics allow us to focus NImmune’s organizational energy squarely on advancing clinical development of our immunoregulatory therapeutic pipeline." “ We’re proud to enter this strategic partnership, which combines BioTherapeutics’ validated models of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with our expertise in rapidly translating fundamental scientific discoveries in immunology into safer and more effective medicines for patients with immune-mediated diseases such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and systemic lupus erythematosus,” continued Dr. Bassaganya-Riera. “ We look forward to the ongoing collaboration between BioTherapeutics and NImmune, as well as the NIMML Institute, to significantly accelerate the clinical development of our high-conviction drug candidates.” About NImmune Biopharma NImmune is a late-stage precision immunology biopharmaceutical company that develops novel best-in-class biomarker-driven immunoregulatory therapeutics. Underpinned by a discovery platform that utilizes advanced computational modeling, A.I. and bioinformatics coupled with biomedical research capabilities to pioneer innovation in immunoregulatory drug development, NImmune’s business model enables the rapid and capital-efficient clinical development of high conviction drug candidates into New Drug Application (NDA) filing and commercialization. The lead product candidate from NImmune’s discovery platform is omilancor, a wholly-owned Phase 3-ready oral, once-daily, gut-restricted, first-in-class therapeutic targeting LANCL2 for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s disease with registration-directed pivotal clinical trials planned for 2H’23. Phase 2 proof-of-concept data for omilancor show potential best in class efficacy and safety. For more information, please visit www.NIMMUNEBIO.COM or contact media@nimmunebio.com . About BioTherapeutics, Inc. BioTherapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotech company that synergistically combines the power of advanced computational modeling with translational and clinical experimentation to accelerate the development of novel products for precision medicine and health. The company is headquartered in Blacksburg, VA. For more information, please visit www.biotherapeuticsinc.com .

Pictured: AbbVie's headquarters in California/iStock, Michael Vi AbbVie on Thursday announced that it has bought Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup Celsius Therapeutics and its lead inflammatory bowel disease antibody CEL383. Details of the acquisition agreement were sparse, with the companies only revealing that AbbVie will snap up all of Celsius’ remaining equity for $250 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments. The companies have not yet announced when they plan to close the transaction. “We are eager the advance the development of CEL383 with a goal of helping more patients with [inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)] achieve remission,” Kori Wallace, global head of immunology clinical development at AbbVie, said in a statement. Developed using Celsius’ proprietary SCOPE platform, which allows the startup to “understand the cells that drive disease progression,” CEL383 is a potentially first-in-class monoclonal antibody that works by targeting the TREM1 protein. TREM1 mediates the interaction between the microbiome and the immune system while amplifying mucosal inflammation, according to the biotech’s website. Preclinical studies have validated this mechanism of action, showing that CEL383 could disrupt TREM1 signaling and lowering the concentration of several inflammatory mediators. CEL383 has recently completed a first-in-human, placebo-controlled, single-ascending-dose Phase I trial in healthy volunteers, designed to evaluate its safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile. Thursday’s acquisition of Celsius is part of AbbVie’s strategy to deepen its portfolio as it weathers a particularly steep patent cliff for its blockbuster immuno therapy Humira (adalimumab). Since losing its most important patent protections, Humira has mostly retained market dominance despite the flurry of biosimilars that flooded the U.S. market. However, in April 2024, fueled by CVS Caremark delisting Humira from its major national commercial formularies, copycats have enjoyed a surge in demand and sales. To shore up its revenues and target future growth, AbbVie has been striking a series of deals giving it access to promising assets and technologies. In February 2024, the pharma put $713 million on the line for an exclusive right to develop, manufacture and commercialize OSE Immunotherapeutics’ investigational antibody OSE-230, being assessed for chronic and severe inflammation. Soon after, AbbVie dropped $212 million to acquire Landos Biopharma gaining access to the oral NLRX1 agonist NX-13, which is being studied as a treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. AbbVie has joined a recent biopharma spending spree in the projected $257 billion immunology market. Outside the immuno space, AbbVie has also invested heavily in the mental health market entering a potential $2 billion deal with Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals in May 2024 to develop neuroplastogens for psychiatric disorders. Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.