AbbVie and Gedeon Richter have entered into a new discovery, co-development and licensing agreement.
Through the partnership, the two will aim to advance novel targets which could be used to treat neuropsychiatric conditions.
This further expands the collaboration of the two companies, who have been collaborating on CNS projects for nearly 20 years.
In tandem, the companies have already commercialised Vraylar (cariprazine), while also discovering drug candidate ABBV-932, for bipolar and generalised anxiety.
Under the terms of the agreement, the duo will work together on both preclinical and clinical R&D activities — with financing shared between the two.
Richter will receieve an upfront payment of USD $25m from AbbVie, with further potential earnings promised at development, regulatory and commercialisation milestones.
AbbVie will have global commercialisation rights in most regions, discluding Richter's traditional markets such as Europe, Russia and Vietnam.
Extending the agreement with Gedeon Richter falls in line with AbbVie's plans to extend its neuropsychiatric pipeline, while serving an unmet need amongst this patient group.
Senior VP and Global Head of Discovery Research, Jonathon Sedgwick, commented: "There remains a large unmet need for people living with neuropsychiatric disorders, making it imperative that we continue to innovate and pursue novel targets and approaches to discover and develop new therapies,"
"We are excited to expand our longstanding and successful partnership with Richter to help address the complex needs of these patients."
Gábor Orbán, CEO of Gedeon Richter, said: "This new agreement builds on years of successful partnership allowing Richter to further support AbbVie's global ambition in neuropsychiatry and validates the quality of science behind our unique discovery platform,"