AbbVie will acquire Nimble Therapeutics, including its lead asset, an investigational oral peptide IL23R inhibitor in preclinical development for the treatment of psoriasis.
The deal also includes Nimble’s pipeline of other novel oral peptide candidates with potential across several autoimmune diseases. Additionally, AbbVie will get Nimble's peptide synthesis, screening and optimization platform, which uses proprietary technology to help drive rapid discovery and optimization of peptide candidates for a range of targets. According to Nimble, the platform can optimize oral peptide therapeutics at unprecedented scale and speed.
Per the deal, AbbVie will make a cash payment of $200 million at closing to acquire Nimble, in addition to certain interim funding payments. Nimble's shareholders remain eligible for a potential payment, subject to the achievement of a development milestone.
Nimble spun out from Roche in 2019, taking the team that helped develop its chemical synthesis technology with it. The independent company, whose main R&D site is in Madison, Wisconsin, opened a second site in Philadelphia back in April.