AbbVie agreed to acquire Apogee Therapeutics for $135.11 per share in cash, valuing the clinical-stage biotechnology company at approximately $10.9 billion, the companies said Monday.
Both boards have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval and a vote by Apogee shareholders
The deal centers on Apogee’s lead drug candidate, zumilokibart, an antibody targeting IL-13, a protein that drives inflammatory conditions including atopic dermatitis — the most common form of eczema — and asthma. In a Phase 2 trial, roughly two-thirds of patients on treatment achieved significant skin clearance at 16 weeks, the company said. Longer-term data from the same trial supports maintenance dosing of either once every three months or twice a year.
Because Dupixent must be injected every two weeks, zumilokibart’s far less frequent maintenance schedule — as little as twice a year — could give it a meaningful convenience advantage over the Sanofi and Regeneron blockbuster, according to Reuters. Zumilokibart is currently in Phase 3 studies for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Apogee’s pipeline also includes APG273, a combination of zumilokibart and APG333, an antibody that blocks TSLP, a signaling protein involved in lung inflammation.