AbbVie doubles down on trispecific engagers

AbbVie is acquiring its second trispecific T cell-engaging antibody that is in early-stage trials for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The pharma is paying $700 million up front and up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments to Ichnos Glenmark Innovation, a Glenmark Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, for rights to the trispecific engager ISB 2001 in North America, Europe, Japan and China.

T cell engagers are engineered antibodies with two or more binding domains, designed to physically direct T cells to attack tumor cells. So far, approved T cell engagers for multiple myeloma — Tecvayli (teclistamab), Elrexfio (elranatamab) and Lynozyfic (linvoseltamab) — are all bispecific and target CD3 on T cells and B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) on myeloma cells.