Ropes & Gray Represents Abilita Therapeutics in Orion Research Collaboration to Develop Next-Generation Antibody Therapeutics

In The News
December 20, 2024

Ropes & Gray advised Abilita Therapeutics in a global licensing and multi-target research collaboration with Finnish Orion Corporation (Orion) focused on discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation antibody therapeutics in oncology and pain. The companies will use Abilita’s pioneering antibody discovery platform to unlock challenging multi-span membrane protein targets. The transaction was announced on December 18.

Under the agreement, Abilita will be responsible for discovery and lead target optimization. Orion will have an exclusive option to license an undisclosed Abilita discovery program upon identification of a development candidate. Orion will have the option to nominate two additional targets. In addition to the upfront payment for each target, Orion will also fund all joint discovery efforts. In total, Abilita has the potential to earn up to $785 million in milestone payments for all three targets plus royalties on commercial sales.

The Ropes & Gray team included life sciences licensing partner Abigail Gregor and life sciences licensing associate Atiyah Wang.