Calico: over a decade, and billions invested, and nothing to show for it. The longevity industry is in dire straights.
The pharma giant’s moves are a notable shift a decade after its investments in aging research
AbbVie is ending an 11-year agreement with Alphabet’s Calico Labs, according to an internal email obtained by Stat.
Originally inking the accord back in 2014, the pair launched an R&D operation that cost up to $1.5 billion to start and later reupped the deal in both 2018 and 2021, with each partner putting half a billion dollars on the line for each renewal.
Now, the intensive project—which is focused on age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration—is coming to a close, with about 100 employees associated with the work set to receive pink slips, an anonymous source told Stat.
In January, AbbVie and Calico’s fosigotifator failed to show significant signs of efficacy in the HEALEY ALS platform trial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
After more than a decade of chipping away at ageing-related diseases, AbbVie has finally decided to call it quits with Google’s Calico Life Sciences.
The move, according to a Wednesday report from STAT News, which confirmed the termination through internal emails the publication was able to view, will also involve layoffs. Around 100 chemists will be affected, STAT noted.