By Tyler Patchen

AbbVie is the latest big pharma to target the hot antibody-drug conjugate market by acquiring ImmuoGen and its Elahere ADC for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The deal worth $10.1 billion was announced Thursday.
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will acquire all outstanding shares of ImmunoGen for $31.26 per share. The board of directors of AbbVie and Immunogen have approved the acquisition, which is expected to close sometime in the middle of 2024.
The deal will give AbbVie access to Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx), which was granted FDA accelerated approval last year, and ImmunoGen’s follow-on pipeline of ADCs. ImmunoGen currently has several ADCs in development for treatments such as solid tumors, acute myeloid leukemia and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, among other conditions.
“The acquisition of ImmunoGen demonstrates our commitment to deliver on our long-term growth strategy and enables AbbVie to further diversify our oncology pipeline across solid tumors and hematologic malignancies,” AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez said in a statement. 
Immunogen’s stock price was up over 82% premarket on Thursday morning. The deal values the biotech’s stock at a 95% premium. 
“With global commercial infrastructure and deep clinical and regulatory expertise, AbbVie is the right company to accelerate geographic and label expansion and realize the full potential of Elahere as the first and only ADC approved in ovarian cancer,” ImmunoGen CEO Mark Enyedy said in a statement. “The addition of ImmunoGen’s pipeline, platform, and expertise to AbbVie’s oncology portfolio is an exciting opportunity for the combined companies to advance innovation in ADCs.”
Elahere was given accelerated FDA approval in November 2022 and has since been a critical moneymaker for ImmunoGen. In the third quarter of 2023, the treatment pulled in $105 million in sales. The company had over $113 million in total revenue for the quarter, compared to $15 million during the same period last year. 
AbbVie’s deal with ImmunoGen comes as there has been tremendous activity in the ADC space. One of the more significant deals of the year, Pfizer’s anticipated $43 billion acquisition of Seagen, has cleared anti-trust regulatory authorities and is moving forward.
Other big names have been jumping on the ADC bandwagon. 
Last month, Merck paid $4 billion for Daiichi Sankyo’s ADCs in solid tumors, while Eli Lilly acquired French biopharma Mablink gaining access to its technology. GSK also entered into a licensing agreement with China-based Hansoh Pharma last month for its ADC, which is currently in Phase I.