Alphabet’s Calico Life Sciences is inking a deal worth up to $571 million biobucks for the rights to investigational IL-11 directed therapeutics from Mabwell Bioscience, including a clinical-stage monoclonal antibody (mAb) for age-related diseases.
Calico is handing over $25 million upfront to weave China-based Mabwell into its fabric, according to a securities filing (PDF, Chinese) from the latter.
The exclusive licensing agreement encompasses therapeutics targeting the cytokine IL-11, though the companies only provided details regarding one asset, dubbed 9MW3811. Mabwell doesn’t list any other IL-11 programs in its online pipeline.
The Chinese biotech has been testing out 9MW3811 in phase 1 trials across China and Australia, with the biotech touting the mAb’s potential in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on its website.
Mabwell also has an active investigational new drug application with the FDA for 9MW3811. If approved, the asset could be studied in U.S. clinical trials.
According to the agreement, Calico will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize 9MW3811 in all regions except greater China.
The California-based biotech was founded by Alphabet—the parent company of Google—and industry heavyweight Arthur Levinson, Ph.D. The company’s goal is to further understand the biology of aging to help create interventions for longer and healthier lives.
Calico already has a spool of partnerships, including collaborators AbbVie and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.