“Inventiva continues to leverage its knowledge and expertise in RORγ development and around nuclear receptors and transcription factors. RORγ is one of the most promising small-molecule approaches in controlling the production of T helper 17 cells, with the potential to treat several autoimmune diseases,” commented Dr. Pierre Broqua, Inventiva’s co-founder and chief scientific officer. “We are excited to continue our work with AbbVie, one of the leaders in development and commercialization of autoimmune drugs.”

 

In addition to the ongoing work in preclinical discovery and development, the company announced that ABBV-553, AbbVie’s current RORγ inverse agonist lead compound, will cease development following a Phase 1 study.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Inventiva will receive an undisclosed research payment. Additionally, Inventiva will receive milestone payments when a new candidate is identified. Inventiva will also be eligible for development and sales milestones as well as royalties on sales.

 

Inventiva notes that it benefits from partnerships with world-leading research entities such as the Institut Curie and also touts its two strategic commercial partnerships—one with AbbVie, of course, and the other with Boehringer Ingelheim—for their potential to make Inventiva eligible for preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, in addition to royalties on the products resulting from the partnerships. Inventiva employs more 100 employees and owns state-of-the-art R&D facilities near Dijon, France, acquired from the international pharmaceutical group Abbott. The company owns a proprietary chemical library of more than 240,000 molecules as well as integrated biology, chemistry, ADME and pharmacology platforms.