Sosei Heptares Receives $10 Million Milestone Payment in Discovery Collaboration with AbbVie Targeting Inflammatory Diseases

TOKYO and CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Dec. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sosei Group Corporation (“the Company”; TSE: 4565), the world leader in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) focused structure-based drug design (SBDD) and development, announces that it has reached an important R&D milestone under its discovery collaboration with AbbVie, the global biopharmaceutical company, focused on inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The achievement triggers a payment of US$10 million to Sosei Heptares.

Sosei Heptares and AbbVie entered into this discovery collaboration and option-to-license agreement in 2020 to discover, develop and commercialize novel small molecule medicines that modulate GPCR targets of interest to AbbVie.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sosei Heptares is eligible to receive up to US$32 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, as well as potential option, development and commercial milestones of up to $377 million, plus tiered royalties on global commercial sales.

Separately, Sosei Heptares and AbbVie also have a multi-target collaboration underway (signed in 2022), to discover, develop and commercialize novel medicines targeting neurological diseases and worth up to a potential US$1.2 billion to Sosei Heptares, plus royalties on sales.

Matt Barnes, President of Heptares Therapeutics and Head of UK R&D, commented: “We are delighted with the progress we are making in both of our exciting collaborations with AbbVie in the inflammatory disease and neuroscience areas. The milestone we have reached in the inflammatory disease collaboration is a great example of how the important insights and expertise brought by the scientific teams from both companies are driving the program forward. We look forward to continued progress and further achievements from this successful partnership.”

About Sosei Heptares

We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology, and inflammatory diseases.

We have established partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging technology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Kallyope, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and Verily. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

“Sosei Heptares” is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR® are trademarks of Sosei Group companies.

For more information, please visit

LinkedIn: | Twitter: | YouTube:

Enquiries:

Sosei Heptares – Media and Investor Relations

Hironoshin Nomura, Chief Financial Officer

Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures

Candelle Chong, SVP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy

Japan: +81 (0)3 5210 3399 | United Kingdom: +44 (0)1223 949390 |

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media)

Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall, Eleanor Perkin

+44 (0)203 928 6900 |

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporation’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.