AbbVie exercised its option to develop and commercialise argenx's experimental cancer drug ARGX-115, the latter company announced Wednesday. AbbVie entered into an option and license agreement for ARGX-115, an antibody targeting the immuno-oncology target glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP), in 2016.

When the agreement was first signed, AbbVie made an upfront payment of $40 million to argenx, with the latter receiving a $10-million payment in 2017, and a further $10-million payment earlier this year after achieving milestones towards an investigational new drug filing for ARGX-115.

Now that AbbVie has exercised its option to obtain a global, exclusive license to develop and commercialise ARGX-115-based products, argenx said that it is eligible to receive further milestone payments of up to $625 million, as well as tiered royalties. Under the deal, argenx also has the right to co-promote ARGX-115-based products in the EU and Switzerland.

ARGX-115, which was discovered under argenx's Innovative Access Program, employs the company's SIMPLE Antibody technology and is designed to selectively limit the immunosuppressive activity of activated regulatory T-cells, thereby stimulating the immune system to attack cancer cells.

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