Dong-A ST Recovers Rights to Immuno-Oncology Drug Licensed to US AbbVie

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] U.S. pharmaceutical and biotech company AbbVie has discontinued the development of an immuno-oncology drug it had licensed from the Korean pharmaceutical company Dong-A ST and has returned the related rights.

Dong-A ST announced on the 9th that its partner AbbVie returned the rights to the immuno-oncology MerTK inhibitor 'DA-4501,' which AbbVie had secured in December 2016.

Dong-A ST explained that although the development rights were returned, there is no obligation to return the $40 million (approximately 46 billion KRW) upfront payment received from AbbVie.

Previously, in December 2016, Dong-A ST had licensed the immuno-oncology candidate 'DA-4501,' which was at the compound discovery stage, to AbbVie. The contract was valued at a total of $525 million (approximately 603.3 billion KRW), including milestone payments for the completion of development and regulatory approval of the candidate compound.

After the compound was licensed at an early stage, Dong-A ST and AbbVie conducted joint research but failed to identify a suitable candidate compound, leading to the return of the rights.