$100 Million Upfront in Deal Giving AbbVie Rights to Experimental Gut Disease Drug
Key Facts
Nxera Pharma has granted AbbVie exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize its drug program NXE0033744, in a deal announced on November 4, 2026. Nxera will receive $100 million upfront, along with development and commercial milestone payments that could reach $13.7 billion and tiered royalties. The deal places the candidate in AbbVie’s pipeline for inflammatory bowel disease, but it remains an experimental drug that has completed only Phase 1. Nxera describes the program as an EP4 receptor agonist, a drug target the company is working to activate in the gut. AbbVie shares closed at $286 in the November 3 session, the last trading session before the announcement, according to EL7 data.
The candidate is designed to be taken orally and work locally in the gut, while limiting the drug’s exposure elsewhere in the body, according to an investor presentation issued by Nxera. The company says EP4 receptor activation is intended to reduce inflammation and support intestinal barrier function and mucosal healing. Nxera believes this mechanism may differ from those of existing treatments, in a market where it sees an unmet need. Inflammatory bowel disease, as the company defines it, includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The company says many patients do not achieve sustained remission or mucosal healing with current treatments, which it describes as the medical need the candidate targets.
NXE0033744 completed Phase 1, and Nxera said the results supported its gut selectivity and showed target engagement. In an initial analysis, the drug reduced by about 50% the increase in small-intestinal permeability caused by indomethacin. The company links this result to a challenge test that measures the drug’s effect on the target, not to a test proving therapeutic efficacy in people with inflammatory bowel disease. It explained that the indomethacin test does not assess efficacy in patients with these diseases. The result therefore remains an early signal within the Phase 1 data and does not represent evidence that the candidate treats patients.
The Phase 1 study included 6 patients with ulcerative colitis, according to Nxera’s description of the program’s results. The company said it observed high drug concentrations in gut tissue, consistent with its design to work locally. It also said it observed no concerning adverse events in single- and multiple-dose studies. These results relate to the Phase 1 program and do not, on their own, provide evidence of clinical efficacy in treating inflammatory bowel disease. The deal gives AbbVie the rights to continue developing and commercializing the candidate globally, while providing Nxera with an upfront payment and potential revenue tied to the program’s progress and sales.
The deal comes as AbbVie’s immunology drugs are growing revenue, according to the company’s third-quarter 2026 results. Global Skyrizi revenue was $5.776 billion, up 22.7% from the same period a year earlier. Rinvoq recorded global revenue of $2.706 billion, an annual increase of 23.9%. These figures provide commercial context for AbbVie’s interest in a program targeting bowel disease, without implying that NXE0033744 has reached commercialization or has results comparable to existing drugs. On October 23, EL7 published a report on approval for at-home Skyrizi induction doses of 720 mg.
Nxera also announced on November 4 that it had raised its specific forecast for the fiscal year ending in December 2026, reflecting AbbVie’s upfront payment under a major partnership deal. Its revenue forecast is now 48,800 million yen, while its core operating profit forecast is 22,800 million yen. The company estimated operating profit under IFRS at 15,700 million yen. Nxera said its underlying business outlook had not changed and that its previous forecasts did not include a large upfront business development payment. Potential subsequent payments depend on the development and commercial milestones set out in the agreement, while the company did not provide, in the available information, a timetable for starting the next stage of development.