BRIEF—AbbVie in I-O deal with Californian biotech

US drugmaker AbbVie has announced an immuno-oncology (I-O) research collaboration with Harpoon Therapeutics, a Californian biotech developing novel T-cell recruiting biologic therapies.

The companies will incorporate Harpoon's tri-specific T-cell activating construct (TriTAC) platform with AbbVie's research-stage I-O targets to develop novel cancer therapeutics.

Harpoon will engineer TriTAC molecules directed against selected cancer targets using its platform, evaluate the molecules for pharmacologic properties, and provide AbbVie the right to pursue further development and commercialization of these molecules.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.