AbbVie to buy Capstan for up to $2.1 billion in immunology push

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

By Christy Santhosh

(Reuters) -AbbVie said on Monday it would acquire privately held cell therapy developer Capstan Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion, expanding its product pipeline with experimental treatments for autoimmune diseases.

The U.S. drugmaker has spent over $20 billion on acquisitions since 2023 as its flagship rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira, lost patent protection.

Capstan develops CAR-T therapies, which use a patient’s own immune cells, specifically T-cells, to fight diseases. Its main drug, CPTX2309, is currently in early-stage development for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

The therapy delivers instructions to certain immune cells to find and remove harmful B-cells that mistakenly attack healthy tissues or grow uncontrollably.

AbbVie is “building on dominance in the inflammatory space” with this deal as it looks to compete with Vertex, Bristol Myers and Biogen to treat B-cell–driven inflammatory diseases, BMO analyst Evan Seigerman said.

The company already holds a strong position in immunology, driven by the success of its autoimmune drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq. The drugs are projected to bring in more than $31 billion in combined sales by 2027.

For Capstan, AbbVie will pay up to $2.1 billion in cash, subject to certain customary adjustments.

Capstan is backed by investors including Pfizer Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb.

The deal also includes Capstan’s CellSeeker tLNP platform technology, which is designed to reprogram cells to treat diseases.

Leerink analyst David Risinger said the technology has “broad potential beyond autoimmune diseases”.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Sriraj kalluvila)