AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV), the specialty pharma firm spun off from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) almost a year ago, and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) new Calico division will spend up to $1.5 billion to research cures to age-related diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
The September 3rd statement announcing the new partnership noted that Calico is responsible for research and development, and will construct a new bio-research facility in the San Francisco area. AbbVie is assuming responsibility for late-stage trials and commercialization activities. Each company will chip in $250 million to get things off the ground, and have also committed another $500 million each in the future.
Statement from AbbVie’s Chief Scientific Officer
Both companies were notably enthusiastic about the new partnership. According to Michael Severino, AbbVie’s chief scientific officer, AbbVie’s “broad R&D experience and capabilities will complement Calico’s biotechnology expertise and innovative scientific approaches.”
AbbVie in expansion mode
Chicgo-based AbbVie has made a number of acquisitions since being spun off from Abbott last year. the enterprise will move its tax address outside the U.S. after completing a $55 billion purchase of Shire Plc later this year, In addition, earlier on Wednesday, the growing pharma giant announced a $275 million clinical development agreement for Infinity Pharmaceutical Inc.’s duvelisib, an innovative new cancer treatment.
More Google’s on Calico
Calico is a new life-sciences company created by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) in September 2013 that is focused on aging and related diseases. The new firm is led by the legendary Art Levinson, who is chairman of Roche Holding Ltd. (ADR) (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) (VTX:ROG)’s Genentech and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
In announcing Calico’s creation last year, Google CEO Larry Page wrote in a blog post that the new enterprise hoped to improve “millions of lives” with “longer term, moonshot thinking around health care and biotechnology.”
“Our goal is to make progress on a very basic challenge: how to help people stay healthier for longer,” Levinson wrote in a blog post regarding the AbbVie partnership today. The collaboration with AbbVie will “turbocharge our efforts,” he commented.
