FromUM LabsUM Abivax: The Remarkable Journey of the Drug That Sought to Conquer Chronic Intestinal Diseases
The result of some 20 years of research, obefazimod could enter the pharmaceutical market within two years. Conceived by a researcher at the University of Montpellier and developed by the company Abivax, this anti-inflammatory treatment could provide relief to tens of millions of patients suffering from chronic intestinal diseases. It is a national and international success story, born of the synergy between research in Montpellier and an innovative company.
The method has been taking shape in Professor Jamal Tazi’s mind since 2002. Nearly 20 years and about a dozen patents later, he sees the fruits of his research on the verge of resolving a major therapeutic impasse for nearly 40 million patients affected by ulcerative colitis across the Western world.
When the adventure began, Jamal Tazi was a professor at the University of Montpellier, and he set out to identify molecules capable of modulating splicing. The idea was to influence this essential cellular process of messenger RNA maturation, as alterations in this process are responsible for many human diseases (such as muscular dystrophy or progeria, for example). “At the time, no molecule existed that could intervene in this process, and government support was crucial: it was the first time a national program had encouraged collaboration between biologists and chemists,” he recalls.
This interdisciplinary approach, conducted in partnership with the Institut Curie, led to the isolation in 2004 of the first molecules capable of correcting splicing. A world first… But their usefulness in treating patients still had to be demonstrated. So the team quickly turned its attention to the HIV virus, which hijacks the splicing machinery to replicate itself. This work led to the creation of Splicos (2009–2014), followed by Abivax ( founded in 2014), both funded by Truffle Capital and emerging from a public-private collaborative laboratory involving the Montpellier Institute of Molecular Genetics (IGMM), the Institut Curie, and the University of Montpellier. “We had to synthesize and test more than forty new molecules per month,” the researcher recalls.
Spectacular results
In 2014, they finally discovered “the Holy Grail.” Dubbed SPL464, then renamed ABX464, the famous molecule had a proven effect on the HIV virus. But the market in that area was already saturated. Jamal Tazi therefore decided to refocus his work on chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. In 2018, the results of the first clinical trials conducted on patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) were spectacular. “One of the first patients treated was scheduled to undergo a colectomy; four years later, he is still in complete remission,” adds the researcher, who won the CNRS Innovation Medal in 2017 and is currently a finalist for the prestigious Galien Prize.
Supported by the CNRS’s Partnership and Commercialization Department and as a founding member of the University Innovation Cluster, the project is “a fine example of a successful public-private partnership, ” says Etienne Schwob, director of the IGMM. “Until 2021, as part of our collaborative laboratory, 50% of the staff was funded by the CNRS, and 50% by Abivax, amounting to 15 to 20 people depending on the period. Here at our facility, the IGMM provided not only its premises but also its instruments and scientific expertise. It is this combination of factors that made the treatment a success,” explains the director.
Published last July, the results of the Phase 3 clinical trials confirm the drug’s efficacy. Administered at a dose of 50 mg once daily, the treatment—called obefazimod—achieved clinical remission in 16.4% of patients as early as the eighth week. That very evening, the announcement sent the markets into a frenzy, and Abivax raised more than $750 million in the United States in just a few hours—nearly 600 million euros. This marks a historic achievement in the French biotechnology sector.
Now in the“maintenance”phase, the well-known drug could be on the market by 2027. It could then find new applications, particularly for patients with Crohn’s disease.