Enanta Not To Exercise Co-development Option For ABT-493 - Update

(RTTNews) - Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (ENTA), a research and development-focused biotechnology company, said it has decided not to exercise its co-development option for ABT-493, the company's next-generation protease inhibitor for hepatitis C virus or HCV being developed in Enanta's collaboration with AbbVie (ABBV).

According to the original collaboration agreement signed in December 2006, Enanta will be eligible for certain regulatory approval milestones as well as royalties on net sales allocable to ABT-493 from worldwide sales of any ABT-493-containing regimens.

Enanta also reached agreement with AbbVie regarding the net sales allocations for royalty calculations for ABT-450-containing regimens, as well as any regimens containing ABT-493.

ABT-450 is the first clinical-stage protease inhibitor candidate developed within the Enanta-AbbVie collaboration, and ABT-493 is the second.

"We believe that the development and commercialization of our HCV protease assets, ABT-450 and ABT-493, are in good hands with the expertise and resources of a global biopharmaceutical company such as AbbVie," said Jay Luly, President and CEO.

Luly said the firm has decided that it is better to use its financial resources generated by these partnered assets to advance the company's other internal proprietary candidates for HCV, including the newly reacquired NS5A program, and to pursue the growth of pipeline beyond HCV with additional candidates in infectious disease and other indications.

ENTA climbed 6.9 percent on Monday to close at $46.59, and slid 1.7 percent in the extended trade.