11-Year Partnership Abruptly Ends: AbbVie and Calico Part Ways, Leaving Hundreds of Scientists Jobless

Nov 13, 2025 21:30 CST Updated 21:30

AbbVie

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AbstractOn November 12, according to internal emails obtained by Stat, pharmaceutical giant AbbVie will terminate its 11-year collaboration with Calico Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet. This R&D partnership, which once invested over $20 billion and focused on aging-related diseases, has come to an end, with approximately 100 related employees facing layoffs. Neither party has responded to media inquiries so far, leaving the future ownership of the collaborative assets uncertain.

11 Years of Collaboration: From a 1.5 Billion Start to Two Renewals

This collaboration began in 2014, with an initial funding as high as 1.5 billion US dollars, half from AbbVie and half from Calico. In 2018 and 2021, the two parties renewed their partnership twice, each time adding an additional investment of 500,000 US dollars.

According to AbbVie's 2024 financial report, the company has cumulatively invested $1.75 billion in collaborations from 2013 to 2022. The core of the collaboration is to tackle aging-related diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders, with the most notable asset being fosigotifator, a drug targeting eIF2B for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

But earlier this year, the Phase II/III clinical trial of fosigotifator encountered setbacks — at 24 weeks, it showed no significant advantage over placebo in slowing disease progression. Coincidentally, another candidate drug targeting the same pathway from Denali Therapeutics also failed in trials around the same time. In addition to ALS, both parties were also developing fosigotifator for indications such as severe depression and vanishing white matter disease, which have now stalled following the termination of the collaboration.

Behind the Layoffs: AbbVie's Strategic Shift

The termination of this cooperation is directly related to AbbVie's business adjustments. Internal emails revealed that AbbVie, the pharmaceutical company headquartered in North Chicago, USA, is abandoning small-molecule drugs and instead focusing on injectables and gene therapies.

The direct impact of the termination of the collaboration is layoffs. Anonymous sources told Stat that approximately 100 employees involved in the collaborative project will receive layoff notices. Notably, less than a month ago, Calico had just hired Dr. Philip Kym, former AbbVie executive, as the head of drug discovery. Kym, who previously served as AbbVie’s Global Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry and was also a member of the steering committee for the joint collaboration, had expressed his "anticipation to advance projects that have been ongoing for years." The current reversal of circumstances comes as a surprise.

Asset Ownership Mystery: Fast-Track Drug Not Included in Pipeline

After the termination of the collaboration, the most attention has been on the future of the jointly developed assets. Among them, ABBV-CLS-628, a monoclonal antibody for treating autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, received FDA Fast Track designation last month. The Phase II clinical trial initiated this summer is still recruiting patients, with the latest update on November 4.

But awkwardly, ABBV-CLS-628 does not appear in AbbVie's current public pipeline, and while other collaborative assets are listed in the pipeline, subsequent development plans remain unclear. As of press time, neither AbbVie nor Calico has responded to FierceBiotech’s request for comments, leaving the future of these drugs still up in the air.

Calico, founded by Alphabet and Dr. Arthur Levinson, former CEO of Genentech and current chairman of Apple, has a core mission to transform aging research into therapeutic drugs. Whether the split with AbbVie will affect its subsequent R&D direction remains to be seen.

Reference Source:https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/abbvie-cuts-ties-calico-100-scientists-after-11-year-partnership

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