ABL Bio Receives Upfront Payment and Equity Investment from Lilly for Grabody Platform Technology Transfer

ABL Bio, a company specializing in bispecific antibodies, announced on December 26 that, following the completion of relevant administrative procedures such as the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act), it will receive a $40 million (approximately KRW 5.85 billion) upfront payment and a $15 million (approximately KRW 2.2 billion) equity investment from Eli Lilly for the technology transfer and joint research and development agreement of the Grabody platform.

Currently, ABL Bio and Eli Lilly are conducting research and development to create multiple therapeutics based on various modalities utilizing the Grabody platform.

ABL Bio plans to further accelerate research and development of its core technologies-including the bispecific antibody platform Grabody, bispecific antibody ADCs, and dual payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)-by strengthening its collaboration with Eli Lilly and leveraging the newly secured funds.

Lee Sanghoon, CEO of ABL Bio, stated, "With the completion of administrative procedures such as the HSR Act, we are now able to receive the upfront payment and equity investment from Eli Lilly. Based on the funds secured through this deal, we plan to expand the indications of the Grabody platform into areas with significant unmet medical needs, such as obesity and muscle diseases. In addition, we will focus on expanding the clinical development of our bispecific antibody immuno-oncology therapies into combination treatments and on developing next-generation ADCs."

Meanwhile, on November 12 and 14, ABL Bio signed a technology transfer and joint research and development agreement for the Grabody platform with Eli Lilly, valued at a total of $2.602 billion (approximately KRW 3.8 trillion) including a $40 million upfront payment, as well as a separate $15 million equity investment contract. Based on these agreements, ABL Bio intends to pursue various long-term collaborative opportunities with Eli Lilly for new drug development.