Boehringer Ingelheim and Cue Biopharma Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, have joined forces to develop and commercialize Cue Biopharma’s CUE-501 product candidate, a differentiated B cell depletion therapy for autoimmune diseases.

Cue Biopharma’s preclinical candidate molecule binds to a B cell specific membrane protein and, in parallel, selectively engages virus-specific memory killer T cells. This enables it to selectively deplete B cells and dampen autoimmune and inflammatory processes, potentially offering improved benefit and safety versus other therapeutic approaches targeting B cells.

“This collaboration represents a strategic expansion of Boehringer’s pipeline portfolio in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, an area that remains challenging and where people living with these conditions often cycle through multiple treatments before finding relief,” said Carine Boustany, U.S. Research Site Head and Global Head of Immunology and Respiratory Diseases Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “By leveraging Cue Biopharma’s proprietary T-cell engager platform, our goal is to deliver a more effective treatment option to patients earlier in their disease journey.” 

Under the terms of the agreement, Cue Biopharma’s technology will be leveraged to further research and advance the development of the candidate molecule. The terms of the multi-year collaboration also include the ability of the parties to expand research and potential development into various B cell targeting bispecifics encompassing autoimmune diseases.

“We are very pleased to embark on this collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim,” said Daniel Passeri, CEO of Cue Biopharma. “This partnership with Boehringer enables further development of the candidate molecule and has the potential to further validate our Immuno-STAT™ platform, for what we believe to represent a breakthrough, novel approach to selectively redirect and harness potent anti-viral memory T cells against targeted, pathologic cells.”

According to the terms of the collaboration, Cue Biopharma is entitled to receive an up-front payment of $12 million as well as research support payments. In addition, Cue Biopharma is eligible to earn up to an aggregate of approximately $345 million in research, development and commercial milestone-based payments, beginning with two preclinical development milestones as well as royalty payments on net sales.